Financial jitters threaten Seattle terminal sale

Operators of Seattle port, the Northwest Seaport Alliance said it had not received financial background information about the proposed new owners of the terminal facility and therefore asked a judge to block the pending sale.

Peter McGraw of the Port of Seattle, told Port Strategy: “The NWSA is objecting to the recent proposal for the sale of Hanjin’s interest in Total Terminals International that is now awaiting approval by the New Jersey Bankruptcy Court.”

He said: “With today’s bankruptcy court filing deadline, we take this action in order to ensure the interests of the NWSA, under its lease with TTI, are adequately protected in the form of surety of lease payments. Our action is consistent with one of the purposes of Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code, which is to protect the interests of US parties in a foreign bankruptcy.”

The port said it is currently in conversation with its customer to resolve the issue and action is being taken to protect its cargo investments.

Mr McGraw concluded: “Container cargo activity helps ground tens of thousands of family-wage jobs throughout the state. We look forward to furthering our goal of working with our existing customers to keep this cargo here in the North Harbour.”