Hanjin Shipping Co., Ltd. was a South Korean integrated logistics and container transport company. Prior to its liquidation, Hanjin Shipping was South Korea's largest container line and one of the world's top ten container carriers in terms of capacity. History Cho Choong Hoon the founder of Hanjin started at the end of World War II, in November 1945 with a single truck in the port city of Inchon. Early on, its biggest customer was the U.S. Army, providing the transportation of material to both Korea and Vietnam. The company signed a major contract with the US 8th Army in November 1956, and another contract in March 1966, with all of the U.S. armed forces in Vietnam, including the Army, Navy, and Air Force. In November 1969, Hanjin made its entry into the containerized shipping business signing a deal with Sea-Land Service, Inc. In September 1970, the company opened its first container yard at the port of Busan. The late 1970s saw a major push into the Middle East with contracts signed to Kuwait at the port of Shuwaik (September 1977), Saudi Arabia at the port of Dammam (March 1979), and at the port of Jeddah (May 1980). The company started to load and unload cargo at the ports of Long Beach and Seattle with the joint venture Total Terminals International LLC., in August 1992. Operations Hanjin shipping formerly operated some 60 liner and tramper services around the globe, transporting over 100 million tons of cargo annually. Its fleet consisted of many container ships, bulk and LNG carriers. Hanjin Shipping had its own subsidiaries dedicated to ocean transportation and terminal operation and it had several branch offices in various countries. Hanjin-Senator once was the seventh largest container transportation and shipping company in the world (operations ceased February 2009). After Hanjin's founder, Cho Choong-hoon, died in 2002, his eldest son, Cho Yang-ho, inherited KAL, when his third son, Cho Soo-ho, was handed Hanjin Shipping. Cho Soo-ho died from lung cancer in 2006 and his widow, Choi Eun-young, became the chairwoman of Hanjin Shipping in the following year. Downfall Hanjin Shipping's insolvency was caused in part by overcapacity in the container ship industry. Pre the 2008 Global Recession, global trade had been rising fast, reflected in the fast rising container shipping rates. Reacting to competitors such as Maersk ordering new larger ships, Hanjin placed orders for 250,000TEU of new ships from 2008 onwards.