Why billions of dollars of goods are stuck at sea
This is a mess because Hanjin's top management was in denial about the possibility of bankruptcy. Just like the typical startup. They've been trying for months to get a bailout deal from somebody, anybody - a merger, loans, their parent chaebol, their stockholders (Korean Air is the largest), or the S. Korean government. Everybody turned them down. There's too much container ship capacity right now; nobody needed Hanjin's fleet.Management didn't have a plan for an orderly shutdown, so when the company went into receivership, everything just stopped.  Just like many failing startups, the web site continued to indicate nothing was wrong.  They've now put up a spreadsheet with current vessel status, but that took weeks. The status has entries such as "Arrested", "Unpaid Canal Fee (Suez)", "Arrested by Bunker Supply Co. (Panama Canal)", and "Port labor rejected" (they're way behind on their payments)".  There are about 500,000 containers stuck with Hanjin.Admiralty law is especially harsh on bankrupt shipowners. In many jurisdictions, ships can be seized regardless of bankruptcy status.  Some Hanjin ships have been seized.  Some are waiting offshore until somebody puts up the money for unloading and refueling.  There were four stuck off the coast of California. Hanjin has come up with enough money to get two of them into the port of Los Angeles and unloaded.  Those appear to be ships Hanjin leased, rather than owned, and a court in Korea has told them to unload and return all their leased ships ASAP.  Courts in about 15 countries are involved, trying to untangle this mess. The US Maritime Commission is trying to get cargoes unloaded, but they don't have much authority.  Ports are unwilling to let Hanjin ships in unless they have enough money to fuel up, pay a crew, and leave - they don't want them stuck at their docks.  Meanwhile, some of the ships are running low on food and water.Then there's the empty container mess.  In the container business, you pay a per-day fee when you hold someone else's container, so everyone tries to return their borrowed empties quickly.  But most of Hanjin's empty container return points are shut down, and are not taking empties back.  Many of those empties are on trailer bodies, and are tying up trailers needed to move freight.  Truckers are angry about this.  Shippers are having trouble getting enough empty trailers.This will all get unwound, but it's going to take weeks or months.  There are going to be really big post-Xmas sales as the delayed cargo is unloaded.