STRANDED
Hanjin containers
are clogging supply chains and the ports of Los Angeles and Long
Beach with thousands of box-mounted chassis taking up space and getting
in the way of the flow of other cargo, reports American Shipper.
Shippers
or truckers are unable to return containers to terminals or container yards of
the near bankrupt South Korean shipping giant, so the chassis are not available
for use.
"Other
ports talk about hundreds, here it is thousands. The situation is
critical," said Harbour Trucking Association executive director Weston
LaBar.
He
estimates at that 10,000 chassis out of 100,000 cannot be used because they
have Hanjin containers on them.
In
a Newark bankruptcy court filing, Hanjin said it did "not assert any
interest in containers that it does not own or are the subject of a
saleleaseback agreement," but added it had not settled issues relating to
the saleleaseback agreements.
Hanjin
also told the court it "advised customers that they should contact the
owners of the containers to arrange for inland delivery and their return".
As
to Hanjin owned containers, Hanjin is finalising a lease for property located
near New York City for the return and storage of Hanjin containers. Hanjin said
it was also working diligently to find space on the west coast for the return
and storage of its containers.
"Moreover,
Hanjin has been working with more than 70 marine terminals and offdock
container yards to arrange for return and storage of Hanjin-owned and
Hanjin-leased containers.
But
Hanjin said it is has been advised by more than 40 of such terminals and yards
that they are now at full capacity.
Said
Mr LaBar: "When Hanjin declared bankruptcy, the trucking community saw a
real dire situation that they would be facing. We've been pretty disappointed
with the allotment of chassis in the pool of pools."
He
said repairs were not being made at an adequate pace, there were concerns there
were not going to be enough chassis for companies to operate.
Long
Beach port's chief commercial officer Noel Hacegaba said they were encouraging
the largest source of chassis in the region - the "pool of pools" -
created by leasing companies DCLI, FlexiVan and TRAC Intermodal to do chassis
repair faster.
They
were also looking for locations where containers owned and leased by Hanjin can
be stored.
The
pool of pools has about 74,000 chassis, and 700 returned to service in just the
past week. The percentage of "bad order" chassis has fallen to 7.6
per cent from nine per cent in the past two weeks.
Mr
Hacegaba said leasing companies are continuing efforts to speed repairs and put
the number of Hanjin containers "on the street" at 10,000 with 5,000
containers at terminals.
Many
containers are at Pier T in Long Beach, which is operated by Total Terminals
International (TTI). Hanjin's 2015 annual report notes it owns 54 per cent of
TTI.
Meanwhile,
other containers are scattered among at least five other terminals in the two
ports where Hanjin or its space sharing partners in the CKYHE Alliance Cosco,
"K" Line, Yang Ming and Evergreen operate.
Mr
LaBar said some larger trucking companies do have the ability and space to put
Hanjin containers on ground and continue to use chassis, but he said for small
and medium size draymen, "they have run out of space and may not
necessarily have the ability to ground Hanjin containers, so for them, the
chassis situation is critical and they are looking for some true relief".
It
is not clear exactly what percentage of the Hanjin containers in southern
California are leased and what percentage are owned.
But
many are leased from Triton International, the world's largest container
lessor, formed recently through the merger of Triton Container and TAL
International.
At
a presentation to securities analysts last week, Triton said it had 87,010
containers (with 148,108 TEU of capacity) hired by Hanjin with a net book value
of about US$243 million.
Triton
also said it was seeking to gain control of those containers and redeploy them
as quickly as possible.
With
leased containers, Mr LaBar said there is some opportunity to return those
containers, but he said some locations designated by leasing companies for
returns "filled up quickly".
"You
get some in and out, but they still tend to be pretty much fully
utilised," he said. "It's not like there is a large amount of these
leased boxes that are able to be returned at this point in time."
LA
port spokesman Phillip Sanfield said the port had short-term agreements with
terminals and other businesses to store containers, mostly those leased to
Hanjin in and around the port.
But
space was limited in and around the port. Port executive director Gene Seroka
said storage was being set up away from in the "Inland Empire" area.
Mr
Hacegaba said Saybrook Capital, affiliated with Total Transportation, is making
50 acres available in Ontario, California for Hanjin leased boxes, but not
owned.
Said
Mr LeBar: "I don't think that does anything for the trucking community
unless that is a termination yard. You drop your box 50 miles from the harbour
and you pay $15 a day on storage. That is not a solution."
LaBar
and Hacegaba said none of the marine terminals in Los Angeles and Long Beach
are accepting Hanjin-owned boxes, including TTI's terminal at Pier T.
Source
: SN – TR.
