Hyundai Glovis expects limited impact from US port fee
Hyundai Motor Group’s logistics arm will be affected by the Trump administration’s car carrier fees, but its sales volume from transporting finished vehicles is relatively small compared to its unassembled vehicle business, which is expected to grow
Company says with very few US-built car carriers and port fees levied on all foreign-built vehicle transporters, global car carrier operators are all on the same page
SOUTH Korea’s Hyundai Glovis, the logistics arm of Hyundai Motor Group, will face challenges after the US Trade Representative imposed fees of $150 per ceu on foreign-built car carriers calling at US ports. However, this is likely to be offset by its parent company’s investment in US manufacturing plants.
The burden of the regulation on Hyundai Glovis will be alleviated because HMG has recently completed a new manufacturing plant, Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Georgia, which a large-scale smart plant with an annual production capacity of 300,000 units and it will be expanded to 500,000 units in the future.
With the existing Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama and Kia Autoland Georgia, HMG plans to establish an integrated US manufacturing system capable of producing 1.2m vehicles per year.
As a logistics subsidiary of HMG, Hyundai Glovis’ complete knocked down (CKD) business, which covers the shipment of unassembled vehicles, is expected to support HMG’s increasing local production in the US, which in turn will boost Hyundai Glovis’ CKD sales.
In 2024, Hyundai Glovis recorded annual sales of Won28.4trn ($19.9bn) and the CKD sector accounted for Won11.4trn, or 40%.
“The CKD business rises in tandem with the increase in overseas production of finished vehicles,” Daol Investment & Securities analyst Yoo Ji-woong said in a report.
Meanwhile, the annual sales from the transport of finished vehicles on pure car and truck carriers reached Won4trn in 2024, accounting for 14.2% of the total.
A Hyundai Glovis official told Lloyd’s List: “Very few car carriers in operation were built in the US. With the US government imposing port fee on all foreign-built car carriers, including those built in China, global car carrier operators are all on the same page. We are closely monitoring the situation and plan to prepare countermeasures.”
