Hanjin

Hangul	한진
Hanja	韓進
Revised; Romanization	Hanjin
McCune-; Reischauer	Hanjin

Hanjin
	The logo of Hanjin
Korean name
Hangul	한진
Hanja	韓進
Revised; Romanization	Hanjin
McCune-; Reischauer	Hanjin

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Not to be confused with Hanshin, which is Japanese.

The Hanjin Group (한진 그룹) is a Korean conglomerate, or Jaebeol. The group is a holding company that includes a shipping company, Hanjin Shipping (including Hanjin Logistics), and Korean Air (KAL), which was acquired in 1969. With its majority interest in the Senator Lines, Hanjin-Senator is the seventh largest container transportation and shipping company in the world.

[edit] History

Korean Air/Hanjin Office in Minato, Tokyo, Japan as seen from the Tokyo Tower

Hanjin began at the end of World War II, on 1 November 1945. 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. It opened its first container yard less than a year later, in September 1970, at the port of Busan.

The late seventies saw a major push into the Middle East with contracts signed with 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).

In March 1990 the company branched out into trucking and warehousing with the purchase of Korea Freight Transport Company. Two years later, in June 1992, the company started Hanjin Express to deliver small packages and provide courier service. The company started to load and unload cargo at the ports of Long Beach and Seattle with the joint venture Total Terminals Inc., in August 1992. In January 1993 they initiated container rail service between Pusan and Uiwang. In May 1995 the company hauled grain to North Korea.