A New Jersey bankruptcy judge denied a bid from Hanjin Shipping Co.’s creditors to keep several of the South Korean carrier’s ships from leaving U.S. ports, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge John Sherwood refused to reverse an order forbidding creditors from seizing Hanjin’s assets, thereby protecting its ships from being confiscated while docked in the U.S. The earlier decision, handed down on Sept. 9, has been key to prodding a number of Hanjin ships — loaded with thousands of containers filled with consumer electronics, clothing and other goods — to pull into port in the U.S. The bankruptcy of Hanjin, one of the world’s largest shipping companies, created a crisis that stranded as much as $14 billion of cargo at sea. As cargo owners, container companies, freight forwarders and others sort through the complex process of getting goods delivered to their final destinations, Judge Sherwood has consistently prioritized getting goods sitting idle on Hanjin ships back into the supply chain.
