Hanjin container vessels carry as many as 24 crew each and pack enough food, fresh water and other essentials for several weeks. A journey across the Pacific from Busan to Los Angeles takes up to 10 days, while a trip via the Suez Canal to Rotterdam could take a month.

Typically, a vessel that can carry 8,000, 20-foot containers costs about $8,376 to operate per day, according to Drewry Maritime Services, an independent ship consultancy. That ship going at a speed of 17 knots would consume 80 to 85 tons of fuel oil a day.

Samsung Electronics said in court filings it had about $38 million of goods on board two Hanjin vessels off the port of Long Beach, California, waiting to be unloaded. Hanjin Shipping won temporary protection against U.S. creditors from a U.S. court Tuesday.

Lenders to South Korea's largest container-shipping company last week rejected a restructuring proposal saying it was insufficient to tide over a cash shortage. The firm may still need as much as 1.3 trillion won in cash to roll over debt in the wake of losses in four of the last five years, according to its main creditor Korea Development Bank.

Hanjin's woes show the container-shipping industry is in bad health, limping from one exigency to another since the 2008 global financial crisis brought trading to its knees.