Five ships operated by cash-strapped Hanjin Shipping have been seized after South Korea's No. 1 shipping line was put under court receivership in early September, according to industry sources Friday.

According to the sources, the Hanjin China cargo ship was seized in Shanghai on Thursday after unloading its cargo, as Hanjin Shipping failed to pay its terminal service fee estimated at 1 billion won ($875,000). The Hanjin China had planned to return to Busan.


Consequently, a total of five Hanjin ships have been seized, as the embattled shipper has failed to meet payments. The other four were seized in Singapore in August, in Canada in September and in South Korea in October.

Hanjin Shipping was put under court receivership in early September as its creditors, led by the state-run Korea Development Bank, rejected its last self-rescue package worth 500 billion won ($440 million), which fell short of the 700 billion won demanded.

Hanjin Shipping badly needs cash to repay debts and meet unpaid service bills. At the end of June, it had 6 trillion won in debt.

Hanjin Shipping and local shippers have been under financial strain due to falling freight rates stemming from ship oversupply and a protracted slump in the global economy. (Yonhap)