When we reported on the stunning collapse of South Korea's Hanjin Shipping, the country's largest shipping firm and the world's seventh-biggest container carrier, which earlier today was granted court receivership after losing the support of its banks, we speculated that "the global implications from the bankruptcy are unknown: if, as expected, the company's ships remain "frozen" and inaccessible for weeks if not months, the impact on global supply chains will be devastating, potentially resulting in a cascading waterfall effect, whose impact on global economies could be severe as a result of the worldwide logistics chaos."

We did not have long to wait for the aftershocks to emerge. As we first reported last night, just hours after the insolvency news hit the tape, three Hanjin ships promptly found themselves stranded off the California coast, stuck – together with the hundreds of tons of cargo – in legal and financial limbo.

That was just the beginning and as Reuters updates this morning, more Hanjin vessels have been seized at Chinese ports, "further roiling the industry as freight rates jump and manufacturers scramble for alternatives."