Hanjin Shipping Co. lost its funding Wednesday, leaving its ships stranded outside ports in Southern California and around the world.

The shipping giant’s stunning shutdown snarled its entire supply chain, from retailers waiting for Christmas goods to exporters trying to get shipments to Asia.

Hanjin, which also owns a majority stake in the Port of Long Beach’s largest terminal, advised freight brokers in some Asian ports Wednesday that it would no longer accept cargo. Uncertainty spread as Hanjin vessels were turned away from the ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach.

“What we don’t know is if that cargo is going to go somewhere else,” said Michael Gold, a spokesman for the Port of Long Beach. “We don’t know what (the company is) going to do. People are confused, and it’s a really dynamic situation.

“At this point we are monitoring the situation and working with our customers,” Gold said.

At least four ships were affected at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Kip Louttit, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California, said three Hanjin ships were turned back to into international waters Wednesday afternoon: the Hanjin Constanza, the Hanjin Greece and the Hanjin Boston are off the coast. The former was set to dock in Long Beach, and the latter two in Los Angeles.

Another the ship, the Hanjin Montevideo, was scheduled to depart from Long Beach this morning, but is being anchored in the breakwater.

Too much capacity

Reuters reported the news first that a funding plan by the parent company that owns Hanjin was rejected by banks led by state-run Korea Development Bank. Hanjin vessels also reportedly faced the possibility of seizure at some ports.

Officials from the Federal Maritime Commission, which regulates the U.S. shipping industry, said reports have been coming from terminal operators that ports are rejecting Hanjin shipments, creating confusion.

The blow comes as the world’s vessel companies face overcapacity even as there is the push for larger and larger ships intensifies.

“The (shipping companies) are really losing money right now because world trade is down. There is too much capacity,” said John Husing, chief economist for the Inland Empire Economic Partnership.

The Inland Empire is one of fastest-growing regions for handling imported cargo in the country. Husing, however, said he doesn’t expect a big slowdown in imports.

“Although the carriers are under pressure, the system itself is handling more containers,” he said. “When you look at the (import) data for the two ports, you are approaching record levels.”

At the Port of Long Beach, where Hanjin owns a majority stake in Total Terminals International, operators stopped accepting delivery of Hanjin containers. A note posted on TTI’s website said it would discontinue delivery of all Hanjin import containers “until further notice.”

“The big question now is what happens to the goods coming in and what happens to the ships,” said Robert Krieger, president of Krieger Worldwide, a boutique custom broker and freight forwarder.

Krieger said he had a few customers with cargo on Hanjin ships, and emails were flying about the ripple effect this could have.

Carriers are already looking to raise rates, he said, just as the holiday shipping season takes off.

“There are all these different dimensions and everyone is going, ‘Now what do we do?’ ” said Louttit of the Marine Exchange of Southern California, a nonprofit vessel traffic service for the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.