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Stacks of sky-blue shipping containers, one of the last assets of bankrupt Hanjin Shipping Co., litter ports on both coasts. Now a fight is brewing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court over who can sell them, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Earlier this month, a Seoul court declared Hanjin bankrupt and ordered the firm’s liquidation, bringing about the final chapter of the ocean-shipping industry’s largest-ever collapse. All that remains of Hanjin will be liquidated, including ships, stakes in seaport terminals and other assets such as its containers. In a court filing this week in New Jersey bankruptcy court, attorneys for a handful of Hanjin’s creditors asked for permission to foreclose on the container assets and sell them.

Creditors of Abengoa Bioenergy US Holding, a unit of Spanish renewable energy company Abengoa SA, have reached an agreement over the distribution of asset sale proceeds, removing a key hurdle for the company to exit bankruptcy, Reuters reported yesterday. Abengoa Bioenergy was one of dozens of U.S. Abengoa subsidiaries that filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection last year while the Seville-based parent worked out a high-stakes plan to cut $10 billion of debt and avoid its own bankruptcy in Spain. The bioenergy company sold ethanol plants last year and raised roughly $140 million in cash, which was claimed by lenders of the Abengoa parent in Spain as well as the unit's unsecured creditors and suppliers in the United States. Under a deal reached this week, Abengoa's big bank lenders such as Santander will receive their pro rata share of $32.5 million of cash from the asset sale proceeds, while the rest will be distributed among the other creditors.

ABN Amro Capital USA LLC has been granted authority to issue subpoenas to the U.S. and Ecuadorian units of cocoa trading house Transmar Group Ltd, a court filing showed on Tuesday, as the bank searches for more than $300 million in assets, Reuters reported. The bank has widened its search on behalf of the company's lenders for assets that they say disappeared from Transmar Commodity Group Ltd before it filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 31, 2016, a court document showed. The lenders say the assets could have helped cover Transmar's debt. Transmar Commodity Group is a U.S. unit of Transmar Group, which is based in Morristown, N.J. ABN Amro Capital USA LLC, a unit of ABN Amro Group NV and agent for lenders to Transmar Commodity Group, was authorized to issue subpoenas to several companies, including Transmar Commodity Group, Transmar Holdings LLC, Transmar Ecuador S.A. and several directors, for documents and examination of witnesses, the court filing showed.

A group of U.S. creditors appealed a court order allowing Hanjin Shipping Co. to sell one of its key remaining assets and to send the proceeds to South Korea, likely beyond the U.S. creditors’ reach, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The creditors, a group of shipping container and trucking chassis providers, on Tuesday filed papers asking the U.S. District Court in New Jersey to revisit a bankruptcy judge’s decision to approve the $78 million sale of Hanjin’s stake in a Long Beach, Calif., container terminal operator. Last month, the creditors lost a bid to keep the sale proceeds in the U.S. The proceeds will instead be administered by a court in South Korea, where the U.S. creditors say their rights and prospects of being repaid will be diminished. The appeal comes as a court in South Korea, where Hanjin’s assets and bankruptcy proceedings have been largely consolidated, has moved to end any efforts to help get the company back on its feet, opting instead for a total liquidation. A final ruling from the South Korean court regarding Hanjin’s fate is slated for Feb. 17.