One shipper’s loss is another shipper’s gain with the international shipping industry enjoying unexpected boon after the fall of South Korea’s largest cargo carrier Hanjin Shipping Co.

Global cargo carriers have expanded routes and vessels to make up for the vacuum after the world’s seventh largest carrier Hanjin Shipping was placed under court receivership in the beginning of this month.

The world’s largest container shipping company Maersk Line, a shipping unit under A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, on Sunday said the cargo crisis caused by Hanjin Shipping’s abrupt collapse has positively affected the company for the short-term. Klaus Rud Sejling, head of Maersk Line’s east-west network, said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Sunday that the freight rate is rising and new clients are flowing into Maersk, indicating that there is “no doubt” that the rate market is reacting to the crisis caused by Hanjin Shipping.

The customers are seeking “a partner that’s stable” and they are coming to Maersk because it is “financially strong,” said Sejling. But he added what would happen in the long term remains uncertain as the rates over the medium and long term can be “influenced” by many factors.

Customers of billions of dollars worth cargoes are fretting about whereabouts and state of their products as many of Hanjin Shipping vessels remain stranded at sea because they were denied of call and unloading at ports since it was sent to the bankruptcy court.

Lars Heindorff, an analyst at Sweden-based SEB bank, forecast Maersk’s net profit for this year would increase by between $200 million and $760 million thanks to the short-term rate hike. According to maritime research firm Drewry, the cost of shipping 40-foot container from Shanghai, China to Los Angeles, the United States jumped to $1,725 on September 8 from $777 on June 30. The research firm expects the freight rate will continue to rise.

While the Korean shipper is struggling to fight off its woes, its global competitors are acting fast to take over Hanjin Shipping’s share in the market, preparing themselves to win the year-end peak season.

By Moon Jae-yong

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]