Korea Shipowners’ Association warns on heavy impact were HMM and Hanjin to fold

The Korea Shipowners’ Association has estimated that if Hanjin Shipping and Hyundai Merchant Marine were to go bankrupt, 5,400 jobs would be lost and the Korean economy would take a $19.13bn hit.

South Korea’s top two lines are both going through painful creditor-led restructuring at the moment.
Among entities likely to be hit hardest were the pair to fold is the port of Busan, the association said.

South Korea’s largest port could lose around $1.12bn if both lines disappeared.

Gerry Wang, the founder of Seaspan, which has a number of ships on charter to Hanjin Shipping, today told Splash the Korean government needs to act firmly and fast to save the two as well as the nation’s shipyards.