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A South Korean judge said today that all Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd. chartered vessels that have completed unloading their cargo have been told to cancel their charter agreements and return the ships to the shipowners, Reuters reported. Hanjin, the world's seventh-largest container line, filed for receivership last month, leaving more than 100 ships and their cargo at sea and threatening to snarl U.S. freight traffic as the year-end shopping season approaches. Dozens of Hanjin's ships have been blocked from docking with ports and lashing firms fearing they won't be paid. Some vessels have also been seized and some sold. The company had a total of 141 vessels, including 97 container ships as of early September. Out of the 97 container ships, 60 were chartered and 37 owned by Hanjin. The company returned three bulk carriers earlier this month, a Hanjin Shipping spokeswoman said today.

The chairman of Hanjin Group transferred 40 billion won ($36 million) to Hanjin Shipping (117930.KS) today to help unload cargo stranded on the troubled shipper's vessels, a spokesman said, but regulators warned securing further funds could take "considerable time,” Reuters reported. The parent of Hanjin Shipping pledged last week to raise 100 billion won to help rescue cargo in the wake of the collapse of the world's seventh-biggest container shipper, including the 40 billion won from Chairman Cho Yang-ho. About $9 million pledged by Choi Eun-young, a former chairwoman of Hanjin Shipping, has also come in, the shipper said. Around $14 billion of cargo has been tied up globally as ports, tugboat operators and cargo handling firms worried about not being paid refused to work for Hanjin, which filed for receivership in a Seoul court early this month. Hanjin Shipping submitted early last week to a South Korean court that it could take an estimated 173 billion won ($154.5 million) to unload all stranded cargo, a Seoul Central District Court judge told Reuters. Korean Air, the top shareholder of Hanjin Shipping, on Saturday approved a plan to lend the shipper 60 billion won, conditional on Hanjin Shipping providing its stake in Los Angeles' Long Beach Terminal as collateral. That deal requires the approval of other shareholders and creditors of the terminal.

Hanjin Shipping Co. won court protection for its ships bound for the U.S., allowing the company to unload four vessels without fear of having them seized by creditors, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Bankruptcy Judge John K. Sherwood on Friday granted the Seoul-based company protection under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code. Judge Sherwood had given the company provisional protection on Sept. 6. His ruling Friday broadened that legal shield and extended its length. The decision by the court in Newark, New Jersey, will allow goods on at least four ships to come into port in the U.S. Worldwide, an estimated $14 billion worth of goods has been stuck on Hanjin ships, which ferry goods for companies including Nike Inc. and Hugo Boss AG.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. yesterday asked a U.S. judge to allow the South Korean company to pay cargo handlers to remove its goods from Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd's vessels stationed near U.S. ports after the world's seventh-largest container carrier filed for bankruptcy, Reuters reported. Hanjin's collapse last week came during the peak shipping period ahead of the year-end holiday season, stranding cargo for the likes of HP Inc. and Samsung. Around $14 billion of cargo has been tied up globally as ports, tug boat operators and cargo handling firms refuse to work for Hanjin because they fear they will not be paid due to uncertainty over plans to provide new financing. Samsung said an order this week by a U.S. bankruptcy judge did not encourage the Hanjin ships to enter U.S. ports as intended, which the company blamed on a misunderstanding of maritime law, the Bankruptcy Code and Korean law. The maker of electronic goods including Galaxy smartphones said that the judge should issue an order barring the seizure of ships and allow it and other cargo owners to retrieve their goods by paying cargo handlers, who have been demanding payment guarantees.

Creditors of Oi SA, the Brazilian phone company that filed for bankruptcy with $20 billion of debt, view the restructuring plan the company presented on Monday as unfairly benefiting shareholders, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The main issue is the right Oi has to redeem bondholders’ convertibles anytime it wants. Creditors argue that the option for early redemption gives current shareholders power to avoid dilution if the company manages to stage a turnaround, but leaves bondholders with a large stake if things go badly. The Rio de Janeiro-based operator proposed converting up to 32.3 billion reais ($10.1 billion) of bondholders’ debt into convertible bonds with a face value of 10 billion reais. Lenders would get 85 percent of the company if Oi doesn’t pay off the debt in three years — leaving current shareholders in control of the company for that time span, and potentially benefiting from any recovery. The creditors also oppose the 10-year grace period suggested for bank debt, considered too long, and the option shareholders have of using proceeds from asset sales to pay bondholders’ convertibles, which could avoid dilution.

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.

Korean shipping line Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd. won an order yesterday from a U.S. judge extending bankruptcy protections so its vessels can dock at U.S. ports without fear creditors will try take actions against the ships, as they have in other countries, Reuters reported today. Bankruptcy Judge John Sherwood approved a motion by the world's seventh largest container carrier that sought to extend to the United States the protection from creditors that it has under receivership in South Korea. The order is temporary and Hanjin will need to return to court on Friday for a final order after talks with stakeholders to try to resolve complex problems involving ports, terminal operators and retailers, Judge Sherwood said. Hanjin filed for chapter 15 protection in the U.S. and sought an order recognizing proceedings in South Korea and protecting its U.S. assets. Some Hanjin vessels have not docked due to uncertainty about the company's finances. As of Monday, 70 Hanjin ships had been denied access to ports and three had been seized in Singapore and China by creditors through court orders. Read more. 

Cover all aspects of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency as well as chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code with ABI’s Chapter 15 for Foreign Debtors. 

Brazil's largest fixed line carrier Oi SA on Monday unveiled a debt restructuring proposal, offering to sell assets and proposing a debt-for-equity swap option that could mean a 70 percent haircut for bondholders, Reuters reported today. Oi filed for protection from creditors on June 20 in the country's biggest-ever bankruptcy case, involving 65.4 billion reais ($19.3 billion) in bonds, bank debt and operating liabilities. In a securities filing yesterday, Oi offered four payment options to unsecured creditors such as bondholders owed approximately 34 billion reais. At the same time, the company said it is willing to repay secured creditors such as the Brazil's BNDES development bank in full over the course of 15 years. Brazil's Oi offered to exchange up to 32.3 billion reais ($9.90 billion) in unsecured debt for equity under the plan, which would give lenders up to 85 percent of the company's capital, according to the filings.

The United Arab Emirates’ long-awaited bankruptcy law will only cover businesses, a senior official said, while individuals will have to wait for legislation that deals with insolvency, Bloomberg News reported today. The law will be published in the official gazette “within weeks” and would go into effect three months later, Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, U.A.E. minister of state for financial affairs, told a news conference today, declining to be more specific. The final draft, approved by the cabinet this week, sets up a new regulatory body for financial restructuring. Its members will include government officials and private sector professionals, Al Tayer said. Read more. 

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South Korea’s Hanjin Shipping Co., one of the world’s largest container shipping companies, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. to protect its vessels from being seized by creditors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Hanjin filed for protection under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code on Friday, days after the company sought protection in South Korea on Wednesday. Hanjin is currently the largest shipping company in Korea, operating approximately 60 regular lines world-wide, with 140 container or bulk vessels, court papers said. It is ranked as the world’s ninth largest container shipping company, transporting over 100 million tons of cargo a year. Its failure would be the largest container-shipping failure in history, dwarfing all previous carrier bankruptcies. Since Hanjin called in the bankruptcy lawyer, the refusal of ports to handle its cargo has stranded 45 ships at sea, according to the company, and more than half a million containers. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

Cover all aspects of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency as well as chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code with ABI’s Chapter 15 for Foreign Debtors.