Car terminal opened by Hyundai Glovis in U.S.

Jeong Jin-woo, Hyundai Glovis head of Americas, second from left, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, third from left, and Port of Philadelphia Chairman Jerry Sweeney, fourth from left. [HYUNDAI GLOVIS]

Hyundai Glovis has opened a new yard for finished cars in the United States to increase its competitiveness in the eastern part of the country.

The logistics company announced Wednesday that it has established the Southport Auto Terminal at the Port of Philadelphia.

The opening ceremony for the new yard was attended by around 250 people, including Jeong Jin-woo, head of Americas at Hyundai Glovis, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Jerry Sweeney, chairman of the Port of Philadelphia.

Wolf said that the new Hyundai Glovis terminal will alone generate $124 million in economic activity and create 2,500 jobs.

Hyundai Glovis has already been importing and exporting finished cars through the Port of Philadelphia by utilizing a 360,000-square-meter (3,875,000-square-foot) yard since 2010. The logistics company said that it purchased another 640,000-square-meter yard to enhance its competitiveness and expand the business base in the region.

Now the company operates a total of 1 million square meters inside the port, and its storage capacity for finished cars has risen from the previous 13,000 vehicles to 36,000.

The Southport Auto Terminal is also equipped with a vehicle processing center that can check the quality of finished cars before being shipped.

Hyundai Glovis has been eyeing the Port of Philadelphia as a base camp for its business in the eastern part of the United States as the port connects with nearby railway lines for the shipment of finished cars and has infrastructure to allow the Korean logistics company to ship products to Mexico as well.

The company believes the Port of Philadelphia is attractive due to its proximity to large-sized markets such as New York City, Washington and Baltimore.

The company opened Global Expedited Transportation, a land shipping subsidiary, in May to extend its reach in the western part of the United States.

BY KO JUN-TAE [ko.juntae@joongang.co.kr]