Hyundai Glovis to secure additional 12 car transport vessels by 2025

Hyundai Glovis Co., the logistics unit of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group, plans to secure an additional 12 vehicle transport vessels by 2025.

Hyundai Glovis, which currently operates 72 pure car and truck carriers (PCTCs), will borrow 12 more such ships over the next two years, industry sources said on Wednesday.

It will put six PCTC ships into operation next year and is in talks to lease six more by the end of 2025, they said.

The ships Hyundai Glovis plans to secure can carry up to 80,000 vehicles per vessel. All of those ships are eco-friendly vessels, run by an LNG dual-fuel engine, according to industry officials.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, car exports have quickly returned to normal, resulting in a substantial increase in maritime traffic, which caused a shortage of PCTC vessels.

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), the number of cars exported by major Chinese companies in the first half increased by 76% from a year earlier to 2.14 million units.

Korea’s first-half vehicle exports rose 32.6% to 1.42 million units.

Hyundai Glovis’ second-quarter sales from its PCTC business gained 4.4% to 778.8 billion won from the year-earlier period.

Write to Nan-Sae Bin at binthere@hankyung.com