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Korea Line, a dry bulk and tanker operator, has been chosen as the preferred bidder for bankrupt Hanjin Shipping’s Asia-US network.

The Seoul Central District Court said today the final agreement for the purchase of the US routes (a 7% market share) would be signed on 21 November.

It also announced that Korea Line had also bid for Hanjin’s 54% stake in the Total Terminals International (TTI) facility at Long Beach, California.

Korea Line, owned by South Korean construction and chemical SM Group, has a fleet of 23 bulk and product vessels, mainly operating in Asia, but currently has no container business.

It pipped the favourite, container line Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), for the network and apparently intends to offer job security to around 700 Hanjin sea- and shore-based staff.

The offer of jobs could have swayed the deal and comes after Hanjin last week sent dismissal notices to some 600 seafarers, terminating their employment on 10 December. Operational and sales staff at the carrier’s Felixstowe, UK, office were dismissed last Friday, part of the decision to close down its European operation.

An ex-employee told The Loadstar today she was very upset about the shabby treatment of long-serving and dedicated staff.

“We certainly haven’t been treated with any respect,” she said.

It is understood that six administration staff will remain at the Felixstowe office until the end of November.

Elsewhere, at the Hamburg European HQ,Hanjin’s German holding company was put into receivership on 26 October. A Hamburg source told The Loadstar today that the insolvency adjuster was “very keen” to organise a speedy closure of the whole European organisation, now likely by early December, apart from a few admin staff remaining to handle the storage of legal documents and the return of office space.

“Unfortunately we were not even informed about the actual legal status of our UK colleagues,” he said.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Hanjin Shipping racked up a massive Won2.92trn (US$2.5bn) net loss in the third quarter of the year, as it business imploded after entering receivership on 31 August. In the same period of 2015, there was a Won61.2bn profit.

By the end of June, Hanjin’s debt had grown to Won6trn and, by 10 October, claims from unpaid creditors exceeded $800m. It seems likely that the Seoul bankruptcy court will decide to liquidate Hanjin Shipping next month.

HMM, meanwhile, is still to finalise agreement with Maersk Line and MSC to join the 2M alliance after signing a MoU with the top two carriers earlier in the year. Currently it is a member of the G6 alliance which will disband in April next year.

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