How important is it, in terms of the economic aspects and management of an enterprise today, to constantly monitor and observe everything that is happening globally? Rhetorical question; the answer is multi-faceted, and what happened recently in South Korea made me reflect once again on the
absolute interconnection between the economies of individual countries, the result of a globalization process that unfortunately, in addition to the known positive aspects, must also take into account repercussions that are anything but pleasant, as well as being dangerous.
In recent months, in fact, a particularly significant incident occurred but one which oddly did not have the prominence that I would have expected in the media. I am referring to the collapse of the South Korean container transportation giant Hanjin Shipping. This was an event that took place on the other side of the world to a company that probably directly has nothing to do with us yet which has been the clear and obvious representation of this deep connection that links the individual economies of the world.
Let’s start from the beginning. After years of financial statements that closed at a loss (apparently a debt of over 5.5 billion dollars), on 31 August of this year Hanjin Shipping presented an application for bankruptcy in South Korea and the United States. The direct result was that in September nearly 70% of its ships carrying goods worth around 14 billion dollars became stuck at sea with no possibility of mooring. A very serious situation that threatened to have serious repercussions on global trade.
A solution to the situation now appears to be in progress through the intervention of Government, shareholders and the president who created an emergency fund of 145 million dollars to pay for anchoring, tolls and crews and allowing the ships to dock in ports (including at Italian ones).
This episode – accentuated by the fact that approximately 95% of cargo handling takes place by sea, thus making this type of transportation one of the main activities of the global economy – is a clear sign of how the collapse of a company so far away from Europe and Italy actually affects us quite closely, involving not only the workers of our country but also and above all companies with goods blocked at sea, impacting on ports and banks (some of them heavily involved) and all the resulting actions.
What happened to Hanjin Shipping therefore underlines once again how
