UPDATE: Dockworkers reverse stance, agree to work Hanjin vessels

The International Longshoremen’s Association has reversed an earlier decision, and agreed to once again work ships operated by the now insolvent South Korean ocean carrier.    UPDATE Sept. 16, 2016, 6 p.m.: The International Longshoremen’s Association said Friday afternoon that it has reversed its stance, and will handle cargo from ships operated by the now insolvent South Korean ocean carrier Hanjin Shipping.
   Earlier in the day members of International Longshoremen’s Association were refusing to work Hanjin ships calling terminals on the U.S. East and Gulf Coast.
   David F. McAdam, chairman and chief executive officer of the United States Maritime Alliance, which negotiates contracts with the ILA, told American Shipper Friday morning members of the dockworkers union would not unload ships belonging to the now insolvent South Korean ocean carrier until they receive payment for back container royalties, which amount to $1 per ton.
   However, Hanjin containers were being removed from the ships of its alliance partners in the CKYHE Alliance—COSCO, “K” Line, Yang Ming and Evergreen Line.
   Hanjin vessels have not been calling U.S. East Coast ports, though several have discharged cargo in the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles and Oakland.
   Sources said Hanjin is about $1 million in arrears to the union, which represents workers up and down the East and Gulf Coast. They said union members are also refusing to deliver containers to chassis trucks seeking to remove cargo from terminals.
   Meanwhile, Judge John Sherwood of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Newark, N.J. at a hearing refused to reverse an order forbidding creditors from arresting Hanjin’s ships despite the protests of fuel companies and providers of tug services.
   Hanjin creditors OceanConnect Marine, Inc., Glencore, McAllister Towing & Transportation, Inc., and Moran Towing Corporation, filed an emergency appeal of Sherwood’s order to U.S. District Court.
   On the West Coast, the Hanjin Boston departed Yusen Terminals in Los Angeles as scheduled at 3 a.m. Friday morning, “but instead of going to Oakland as planned, the master asked to anchor,” said J. Kip Louttit, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California. He said Friday afternoon the ship had departed for Oakland.
    He said the Hanjin Gdynia at Long Beach Berth T-136 Total Terminals International is expected to depart the port Sunday at 5 p.m. and sail to Tokyo.
   The Hanjin Montevideo, a ship that was arrested before Hanjin filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the U.S., “remains at anchor inside the Long Beach Breakwater and we still have no information on future movements,” said Louttit.