Hyundai Glovis "Building Dedicated Car Carrier Terminal in Germany, the Heart of Maritime Logistics"

Establishment of Joint Venture with German BLG Group
Expansion of Transportation Business for Global Complete Vehicle Brands

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Hyundai Glovis has secured exclusive loading space at the German port of Bremerhaven, one of the largest ports in Europe for automobile cargo volume, becoming the first global shipping company to do so. Through this, the company plans to strengthen its sales efforts not only for Hyundai Motor Company but also for other global automobile brands.

On the 15th, Hyundai Glovis announced that it has established dedicated infrastructure within the German port of Bremerhaven, including three berths (facilities for mooring ships within the port) and a 100,000㎡ yard. Among the 11 global automobile shipping companies using Bremerhaven port, Hyundai Glovis is the only one to have secured exclusive space.

Hyundai Glovis signed a joint venture agreement with the German BLG Logistics Group, the terminal operator, to establish the dedicated space.

Located in the northern German state of Bremen, Bremerhaven port has been a key automobile port handling an average of 2 million vehicles annually for export and import over the past three years. It is where most European finished cars, including German representative brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and BMW, are loaded, earning it the nickname "the heart of automobile maritime logistics."

Among the two terminals within the port, Kaiserhafen and Nordhafen, Hyundai Glovis plans to establish exclusive use space at the Kaiserhafen terminal. It has secured three out of five berths exclusively and a 100,000㎡ site capable of storing about 5,000 vehicles.

Following the United States, Hyundai Glovis aims to expand sales targeting other global automobile brands by securing exclusive loading space in Europe.

Immediate acceleration is expected in transporting contract volumes signed last year with the Volkswagen Group. The company signed a five-year long-term maritime transport contract with Volkswagen Group, the largest finished car manufacturer in Europe, last year. This is the largest scale among maritime contracts with global finished car brands.

According to the contract, Hyundai Glovis transports passenger cars produced by Volkswagen Group in Europe exclusively to major ports in China about 10 times a month, and it is expected that transportation will be faster in the future through the use of exclusive space.

Earlier, to secure a global logistics system, Hyundai Glovis constructed a dedicated automobile pier at Pyeongtaek Port in 2015, and in 2019, it additionally secured a new finished car yard at the port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, exclusively using an automobile site covering 1 million㎡, equivalent to 143 soccer fields.

Since fully entering the shipping business, the proportion of non-affiliated sales, which was 12% in 2010, has rapidly increased every year, rising from 40% in 2016 to 52% in 2019. In the third quarter of this year, it increased to 60%, marking an all-time high.

Hyundai Glovis stated, “We will enhance ship operation efficiency through continuous infrastructure investment, such as establishing exclusive loading space and operating the world’s second-largest fleet. Going forward, we will expand the proportion of non-affiliated sales through aggressive marketing to secure unrivaled competitiveness in the automobile carrier sector.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.