I posted yesterday about South Korean's Hanjin Shipping declared bankruptcy and is in a state of shutdown until the lawyers figure things out. There is one of their ships in limbo up north of here.
From Canada's CBC:
Giant container vessel stuck in Prince Rupert, company in receivership
One of the world's biggest shipping companies has filed for receivership — leaving one of its vessels stuck in Prince Rupert.
South Korea's Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd. filed for bankruptcy protection today, causing chaos for thousands of customers around the world.
And north of here?
One of its ships, the 255-metre long Scarlet, entered the Port of Prince Rupert at 10 p.m. PT on August 30, and is now in an assigned anchorage.
Port spokesperson Michael Gurney said under normal circumstances, the ship would go directly to the terminal for unloading, but it has not been handled because of the uncertain situation.
And the cargo:
"Nothing's happening with any of the cargo, and this is all back to school merchandise, Christmas merchandise, beginning to come in now and unless the terminal is paid to unload the ship — and it needs to be paid by a carrier that's now entering bankruptcy — then the cargo's not going to get moved," he said.
There is about a six month lead time between the initial order, manufacture, shipping, distribution and retail for any given item. This is why Halloween stuff started appearing on shelves two months ago and Christmas stuff will be showing up right after Halloween is over. Not knowing how long this impasse will last could drive up scarcity and therefore prices of anything coming in from Asia. If you are looking at purchasing a durable good (laptop, hard drive, television, clothing, appliance, vehicle, etc...) this fall, consider shopping for it now.
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