Korea's LX opens Hungary terminal for Europe EV, battery logistics

LX Pantos, one of the top logistics firms in South Korea, has launched a railway terminal in Hungary for the electric vehicle and battery logistics sector in Europe, betting on long-term growth in the world's second-largest EV market despite the recent global slowdown.

The company, a unit of South Korean conglomerate LX Group, said on Sunday it held an opening ceremony for its first railway terminal in Hungary, named LX Pantos Tata Terminal, on April 19.

"With the launch of the terminal, we will strengthen our sales to clients in the EV and battery industries and expand our presence in the European market through differentiated logistics services,” said an LX Pantos official.

Hungary is the world’s fourth-largest battery manufacturer with around 3% global market share, far behind China, which dominates more than 70% of the market, the US with about 6% share and Poland making up 4%.

The Eastern European country has seen surging demand for railway freight as global battery makers, such as China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL), have ramped up their manufacturing capacity in Hungary to supply products across Europe.

Located 65 kilometers southwest of Budapest, the new terminal of LX Pantos covers a total area of 36,000 square meters with two railway tracks.

It can store 1,450 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo and perform block train services, which directly connect an origin and a destination with no stops in a short time, up to three times per day.

LX Pantos has acquired 10-year terminal operation rights from Austrian Federal Railways, with an option to extend the concession for another 10 years.

In the long term, LX Pantos plans to transport freight from battery production sites to the Port of Koper in Slovenia, a key hub of Eastern Europe’s maritime logistics.

The company aims to connect major European cities by rail in conjunction with the Trans China Railway, which runs from eastern China to central Asia, Russia and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com


Jihyun Kim edited this article.