Transportation and maritime insurance companies say “You’re going to see hundreds and hundreds of insurance claims and litigation surrounding this going crisis for well more than a year.”
Hanjin accounts for about 3 percent of shipping containers globally. It’s big enough that global retailers are worried that delays will shorten the busy holiday shopping season as they wait for goods to arrive.
The Hanjin bankruptcy is just the first major disruption for an industry that is in trouble and expected to lose at least $6 billion this year.
Maersk Line, the world’s biggest shipping company, lost $114 million in income in the first six months of the year; this contrasts with its having a profit of $1.22 billion in the same period of last year. Revenue fell 20 percent, to $10 billion. Most of Maersk’s rivals have reported double-digit declines in revenue this year.
Suddenly, a slew of companies that have taken the shipping industry for granted are watching with concern.
According to industry analysts, the only way to fix the oversupply of ships is with an unprecedented culling of the fleet that would scrap older vessels.
But that could take years.