The financial woes of one of the world’s biggest shipping lines have left as much as $14 billion worth of cargo stranded at sea, sending its owners scurrying to try to recover their goods and get them to customers, according to industry executives, brokers and cargo owners, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Since Hanjin Shipping Co. of South Korea filed for bankruptcy protection there last week, dozens of ships carrying more than half a million cargo containers have been denied access to ports around the world because of uncertainty about who would pay docking fees, container-storage and unloading bills. Some of those ships have been seized by the company’s creditors. Samsung Electronics Co., which makes the Galaxy smartphone and other devices, said it has cargo valued at about $38 million stranded on Hanjin ships in international waters. About 95 percent of the world’s manufactured goods — from dresses to televisions — are transported in shipping containers. Though Hanjin accounts for only about 3.2 percent of global container capacity, the disruption, which comes as retailers prepare to stock their shelves for the holiday season, is expected to be costly, as companies scramble to book their goods on other carriers.
