A pile picture on shipping company workers rallying against layoffs.[Yonhap News Photo]
A labor-management dispute has erupted over Hanjin Shipping's plan to reduce its workforce focusing on the South Korean shipper's route between Asia and the United States.
In negotiations with union leaders on Tuesday, Hanjin Shipping, which is under receivership, disclosed its plan to lay off more than half of its land-based employees by early December.
Hanjin's union said the proposed layoff should be done after the sale of assets. Hanjin has 700 ground-based and 728 sea-based workers.
The shipper has been under pressure to streamline its structure and business.
A court last week kickstarted the process of selling Hanjin's assets. Bidding managers would receive letters of intent by October 28 and written proposals on November 7. The sale is aimed at reducing Hanjin's debt estimated at six trillion (5.3 billion US dollars) at the end of June.
Market watchers believe potential buyers will be interested in Hanjin's assets including ships and overseas operations.
Hyundai Merchant, the country's second-largest shipper controlled by creditors, plans to submit a preliminary bid for Hanjin's assets including its Asia-US route which has generated sales of up to four trillion won annually.
Financial regulators have suggested Hyundai Merchant could acquire healthy assets from Hanjin to maintain the competitiveness of South Korea's embattled shipping industry.
If Hyundai Merchant absorbs Hanjin, the merged entity would have a combined fleet value of $2.1 billion, according to VesselsValue, a leading online vessel valuation and maritime data provider.
VesselsValue's data showed that Hanjin has a total of 56 vessels worth about 1.31 billion US dollars, including 37 containers and 18 bulkers, while Hyundai Merchant has 33 vessels worth $818 million, including 24 containers, four bulkers, and five tankers.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
