OVER the past few weeks, many American retailers have worried that Christmas, their most profitable selling season, will be ruined. In late August, Hanjin Shipping, South Korea’s biggest container line and the world’s seventh-largest, filed for receivership. Some 66 of its ships, loaded with $14.5 billion of goods, including quantities of electronics heading for America, were left stranded at sea. Ports around the world did not want to let Hanjin’s vessels dock because the bankrupt line had no money to pay unloading fees. Neither did they want creditors impounding Hanjin’s vessels in their facilities, leaving valuable moorings occupied for months. Although the stricken firm’s parent, Hanjin Group, promised $90m to allow some of the ships to finally make it to port, this is short of the $270m needed, and as a result most are still stuck at sea.