Seoul urges swift offloading of Hanjin cargo, to unveil new shipping measures

[SEOUL] South Korea will announce new measures to bolster the shipping industry in October, finance minister Yoo Il Ho said on Friday, urging the swift unloading of cargo trapped on Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd's ships.

Around 90 per cent of Hanjin's container ships are expected to finish offloading cargo by the end of October, with vessels in close vicinity of Korea returning to ports here, Mr Yoo said during a visit to a port in Busan to assess the Hanjin situation.

"The government will provide help through related ministries and offshore offices while it will also ask the court to help allow Hanjin to use the funds necessary for cargo offloading and to pay offloading fees for ships returning to Korea as a priority," Mr Yoo said.

Some 35 vessels have offloaded cargo as of today, out of a total of 97 Hanjin owned and leased container ships, he added.

REUTERS