Have you heard the latest news surrounding Hanjin Shipping?
UPDATE:
Hanjin Shipping is one of the largest shipping firms and their most recent decision will affect thousands. There are many reasons why cargo does not move smoothly from origin to its foreign destination. Port congestion has been in the news recently. You’ve probably also experienced delays from customs hold or exam. And now there is another possible reason to ask the question; Where is my container? And why is it not here yet? Hanjin Shipping Lines recently announced they will not be taking any new shipments in light of the fact that they have filed for receivership and a request to the court to freeze their assets. The news sent ripples through all the lines that Hanjin has vessel sharing agreements with.
An interesting fact is that other containers from the 5 other member steamship lines are also laden on board Hanjin vessels. That’s what the freight alliance does, it shares vessels. So keep your eye out for the vessel name. Your Non-Hanjin container may just be a casualty of this latest wrinkle in the global fabric of your supply chain.
Challenges customers will face because of Hanjin Shipping Bankruptcy
So where does that leave you as a customer? You need to make more informed decisions about your carrier options. The fact is that the Global Trade Market needs a predictable cost and time frame to operate and the basis of this has now been compromised from the shock wave from Hanjin Shipping. You now face the challenge of extended delay to the arrive time of the product. What about your customers? How will this affect you personally?
Let’s analyze this. You’ve just been informed that cargo has been delayed and you’re low on stock. You have customers who prepay to ensure they get their supplies on time. What will you tell your customers when you can’t get an ETA yourself? Are you gonna let your business crumble as well?
Hanjin Shipping and their shift in Alliances
Hanjin Shipping is currently part of the CKYHE Alliance. The Alliance consists of a few more members which are Cosco Container Lines, “K” Line, Yang Ming Line and Evergreen Line. According to an article from Joc.com News, “The CKYHE Alliance will cease to operate in 2017 as a result of consolidation in the container shipping industry. Evergreen Line will join the Ocean Alliance along with Cosco, which merged with China Shipping Container Lines in 2015, while “K” Line, Yang Ming Line, and Hanjin are joining THE Alliance.”
The New Alliance will begin operates in April 2017. There new members consist of the Japanese trio of Nippon Yusen K.K., Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. as well as Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd AG, South Korea’s Hanjin Shipping Co. and Taian’s Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp.
Port of Houston Insider Information – Hanjin Shipping Containers
I just got off the phone with John Mosely at the Port of Houston. He said that they don’t have a Hanjin vessel scheduled to call Houston in the immediate future. However, they do have a COSCO vessel that, due to vessel sharing agreement has Hanjin containers (containers moving on Hanjin bill of ladings) on it. COSCO has instructed the POH not to release any Houston inbound containers and not to load any Houston origin export containers.
So what’s going to happen to the Hanjin containers that are sitting at the Port of Houston? The POH is charging $100 per container to cover just under half of their fee that Hanjin would have been responsible for in order for the containers to be removed from the port. So, if you have an import container unloading off of this COSCO vessel, you pay $100 additional for POH to release its hold. If you had a booking export out of Houston with Hanjin, you have to pay $100, then pick up the container, bring it back to your place, strip the container, get a new booking (with someone else) and then begin the whole export process over again. How inconvenient is that?
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