Hanjin Shipping Finally Unloads Cargo in California

The struggling Korean company Hanjin Shipping is completing the unloading of its cargo in California and is expected to leave port on Monday, and truckers are expected to pick up their respective companies' cargo soon according to shipping industry officials Reuters reported.

Hanjin's ship called "Greece" docked in Long Beach, California on Saturday after a U.S. bankruptcy court granted the embattled shipping company asset protection which terminal operators agreed to respect.

However, the ship that docked in Long beach carried only a fraction of the $14 billion in goods on dozens of other Hanjin ships owned or leased by the company which is world's seventh-largest container carrier.

The shocking collapse of Hanjin was partly caused by its debts of $5.5 billion caused by diminished global demand for shipping. The company, which filed for court receivership in a Seoul court on Sept. 4, has caused chaos in global trade networks sending retailers especially in the US in a state of panic.

According to Reuters, it is not clear when port operators will bring others to berths in Southern California and elsewhere. The U.S. court on Friday gave three other Hanjin ships protection from seizure, and one has been waiting near the Long Beach port since. Two others are in the Pacific Ocean.

Reuters further reported that truck drivers probably will begin moving containers from the Greece on Monday while the vessel prepares to leave late in the day for the Port of Oakland, said Teamsters spokeswoman Barbara Maynard and shipping traffic controllers.

With prospects for other Hanjin ships unclear, Robert Krieger, president of Carson, California-based customs broker and freight forwarder Krieger Worldwide, is looking for alternatives to bring containers now on Hanjin ships in Asia across the Pacific.

"We've already planned for the contingency for Hanjin saying, 'Here are your containers, come get them,'" said Krieger.