Hanjin Shipping sells part of container ship business for $31 million

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd said on Tuesday it decided to sell part of its container ship business to Korea Line Corp for 37 billion Korean won (25.11 million pounds).

Korea Line will buy Hanjin's Pacific routes shipping business, relevant client management information, units in seven countries including the United States, China and Vietnam, as well as assets and manpower related to logistics systems, Hanjin said in a regulatory filing.

Hanjin said the sale, which will be completed on Jan. 5, 2017, is to secure funds to pay off creditors. Hanjin applied for court receivership in late August after banks denied further financial support for the troubled shipper.

(Reporting by Jeong-eun Lee, writing by Joyce Lee, editing by G Crosse)