At a case management conference held last Friday, the Singapore High Court granted an application by Hanjin Shipping’s foreign representative, Suk Tai Soo, for leave to withdraw its proceedings in the Singapore High Court for, among other things, the recognition of Hanjin Shipping’s rehabilitation proceedings in Korea.
As leave was granted for Suk to withdraw the said proceedings, the High Court further discharged the interim stay order which was previously granted on 9 September 2016. The interim order was operative up to 25 January 2017 and included a restraint of all pending, contingent or fresh suits, actions or proceedings against Hanjin Shipping and its wholly-owned Singapore subsidiaries or any enforcement or execution against any of its assets located in Singapore (excluding the arrest of the Hanjin Rome).
This development is perhaps unsurprising as it comes just a fortnight after Hanjin Shipping was reported to have informed a New Jersey bankruptcy court in December 2016 that its liabilities in the US are far greater than its assets there.
Now that the interim order has been discharged, parties with claims against Hanjin Shipping, and who have not approved, consented to or are otherwise bound by any compromise of their claims against Hanjin Shipping and its wholly-owned Singapore subsidiaries are no longer precluded from prosecuting or enforcing their claims against any remaining assets of Hanjin Shipping (or its Singapore subsidiaries) in the Singapore courts.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.