Hanjin Shipping to Lay Off U.S. Staff
South Korean liner carrier Hanjin Shipping has announced job cuts in the U.S., but says the move is not connected to its failure and filing for bankruptcy protection, says a report in Bloomberg.
Hanjin will lay off about 180 members of its 500 person workforce in the United States, say sources. Fewer employees are needed because the shipper is no longer booking export cargo.
Meanwhile, according to New Jersey On-Line, Hanjin Shipping Co. has already laid off 127 workers at its American headquarters on Route 4. The layoffs took place Sept. 30 and the company gave notice to the state Department of Labor on Thursday.
Hanjin said in the notice to the state that the layoffs were due to the company's bankruptcy petition, filed Sept. 1 in New Jersey. Hanjin said it would pay workers for accrued vacation days.
According to a report in Reuters, ninety percent of Hanjin's 97 container ships should have completed offloading by the end of October.
Hanjin has begun returning leased ships to their owners, and some vessels have been sold.
The collapse of South Korea's biggest shipping operator late last month has plunged the shipping industry into chaos ahead of the crucial year-end holiday shopping season as dozens of vessels and their crews wait for money needed to pay for port and handling fees.