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More than two-thirds of all the Hanjin Shi[ds_preview]pping operated containerships remain inactive. Sales have so far netted 460 mill. $ in auction houses with more to follow, writes Drewry.

The collapse of Korean shipping group on 31 August last year exposed the frailty of container lines in an era of ultra-low freight rates and caused panic among cargo owners with assets aboard their ships. After the logistical chaos has been cleared up, the fleet of Hanjin still contributes to the global idle fleet, according to Drewry.

drewry, HanjinAn immediate impact could be seen on the containership idle fleet, which surged after Hanjin’s demise when 98 ships with an aggregate capacity of around 610,000 TEU suddenly were left without employ. The idle fleet went from 904,000 TEU in mid-August to 1.7 million TEU in mid-November.

The declining stature of the idle fleet from December onwards is in large part due to some of those ex-Hanjin ships being re-chartered. For now, research by Drewry shows that four vessels of 15,000 TEU in total have been scrapped, two of which were owned by the Koreans and none older than 20 years, while another 31 ships (134,000 TEU) have found new service elsewhere.

Only one of those ships that have found new operators was previously owned by the collapsed company, the 4,275 TEU »Hanjin Durban« (now »KMTC Chennai«). Non-operating charterers such as Danaos, Kmarin and Seaspan have managed to find replacement lessors for 30 ships so far, presumably at considerably lower daily charter rates than were paid before.

Fig414Maersk Line has shown the biggest appetite by chartering 11 vessels of 77,000 TEU, the largest being two 13,000 TEU units (»Hanjin Africa« and »Hanjin Harmony«) that were sold at auction to unnamed buyers in December for around 131 mill. $ apiece, according to unconfirmed media reports. Maersk is deploying the vessels (renamed »Maersk Emerald« and »Maersk Ensenada« respectively) in the »2M« Alliance Asia-Europe network.

63 vessels parked up

There remain some 63 ex-Hanjin ships with close to 460,000 TEU worth of nominal capacity that are parked up. These include »Hanjin Europe«, one of the three 13,092 TEU units sold in December by Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG, which was originally listed as Hanjin-owned. Another six sisterships with similarly opaque ownership will be auctioned off next month.

At least eight vessels should be back on the water fairly quickly. KMTC in December paid 5.3 mill. $ apiece for the purchase of four 4,275 TEU units, of which it has currently only put one into service in the Intra-Asia trade.

Tab118At the same time, the Korean Samra Midas (SM) Group acquired five ex-Hanjin owned 6,655 TEU units as part of a 23 mill. $ deal for the bankrupt line’s Transpacific assets, which it intends to operate in the same trade possibly as soon as March via a newly formed subsidiary unit SM Lines.previous plan for a different subsidiary, bulk operator Korea Lines, to run the new container business was vetoed by SM shareholders. SM has been touted for more purchases of ex-Hanjin assets to expand its container operations to the Intra Asia market.

150,000 TEU capacity still for sale

The other confirmed sale of Hanjin-owned ships involves Seaspan Corporation paying about 21 mill. £ for four 4,275 TEU units, which according to its website it has yet to find a charter party to take over operations.

Drewry now estimates that there remains up to as much as 150,000 TEU of Hanjin-owned ships that is still for sale. With such a glut of containerships already available and limited demand growth it is debatable just how big a market they can attract even at knock-down prices. The biggest and youngest ships are likely to have the biggest pull.