Crews aboard Hanjin Shipping Co. vessels docked at American ports are being barred by U.S. immigration officials from coming ashore, a decision labor groups say goes against international seafarers' conventions.

Sailors on several Hanjin ships were denied shore leave out of concern they night not return to their ships, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement. The concerns arise after the shipowner filed for bankruptcy protection late last month. The company's fleet sat idle at sea for weeks after filings in South Korea and the U.S. because the company was unable to pay docking and container-handling fees, and its owners feared ships might be seized by creditors.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge has now barred creditors from seizing Hanjin's assets, and with new financing to pay terminal operators, some U.S.-bound ships have berthed and released their cargo. Sailors with visas are often able to go ashore while their ships unload, though CBP has denied shore leave in other cases.

For the crews of those ships, "the uncertainty of the situation was weighing on them," said Jeff Engels, U.S. West Coast coordinator for the International Transport Workers' Federation, which represents about 700 trade unions world-wide. "After a long period at sea, the crew and officers really want to go ashore."

On Monday, dockworkers at the Port of Seattle staged a brief work stoppage in solidarity with the crew of the Hanjin Marine, after crew members dropped a banner off the side of that ship that read, "We deserve shore leave." Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 19 cheered and sounded horns on their vehicles, according to a video posted on the chapter's Facebook page Monday night.

Representatives for the ITF have been in contact with crews of the carrier's fleet around the world, in many cases boarding ships to check payroll records, the freshness and availability of food and supplies and general welfare. Another ITF official described the U.S. decision to bar crews from shore as "the only serious exception" to otherwise good treatment of Hanjin sailors world-wide.

U.S. Customs officials have also been in regular communication with the ships' crews, the agency said in its statement. In case of a medical emergency, CBP said it may grant special permission to disembark.

On shore, "you take for granted that you can smell flowers, hear birds or check what movie's playing," Mr. Engels said. "When that's denied, it's like a gut punch."

On Wednesday, a South Korean bankruptcy judge handling Hanjin's insolvency proceedings said a sale of the troubled company is possible. The company has a total of 97 container ships, 37 of which it owns and 60 of which are chartered.

Write to Erica E. Phillips at erica.phillips@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 28, 2016 17:45 ET (21:45 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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