Hanjin Shipping

About Hanjin Shipping

The story begins in 1945 when Cho Choong-hoon founded the Hanjin Group with a single truck. The company grew by securing contracts with the U.S. military. The group entered the container shipping business in 1977, establishing Hanjin Container Lines, which would later become Hanjin Shipping after a merger in 1988. By the 2010s, it had become South Korea's largest container line and one of the world's top ten carriers, operating a massive fleet. A confluence of factors led to its downfall. The industry faced chronic overcapacity after the 2008 financial crisis, which depressed shipping rates. In this environment, Hanjin took on significant debt to expand its fleet, betting on a market recovery that never fully materialized. Following the death of chairman Soo-ho Cho in 2006, his wife Choi Eun-young took over, and the company's financial troubles deepened. By August 2016, with debts exceeding $5 billion, its creditors cut off support. The company filed for receivership on August 31, 2016, an event that sent shockwaves through global trade. Ships were denied entry to ports, creating a logistical crisis with an estimated $14 billion worth of cargo stranded at sea. Despite attempts at restructuring, the company was declared bankrupt by South Korean courts on February 17, 2017, and its assets were liquidated. The collapse was the largest in the container transport industry, a stark lesson on the volatile nature of global shipping.