SSG.com to bring in electric refrigerated trucks

SSG.com has teamed up with Hyundai Glovis to make its business greener. The decision follows Market Kurly’s announcement last week to push the use of paper packaging to minimize waste, an issue which consumers have frequently complained about.

The online shopping entity of the Shinsegae Group on Wednesday said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai Glovis, the logistics affiliate of Hyundai Motor, to establish a delivery system with electric refrigerated delivery trucks.

As a subcontractor, Hyundai Glovis rents delivery trucks to SSG.com. Glovis will build the charging infrastructure for the new fleet of delivery trucks which will be purchased from Hyundai Motor once they are developed, according to a spokesperson from SSG.com.

Although there have been cases in which packages were delivered via electric vehicles, there haven’t been any cases where deliveries were made using electric delivery trucks embedded with refrigeration functions due to the technological limit, according to SSG.com.

The two companies plan to test the safety and the driving ability of the new vehicles, which are expected to be developed in the first half of next year. SSG.com will start delivering packages with the vehicles from its new distribution center in Gimpo, Gyeonggi, which will be fully constructed by the end of this year.

The partnership with Hyundai Glovis is part of SSG.com’s series of efforts to adopt eco-friendly business management, previously demonstrated by its reduced use of packaging materials and the supply of reusable shopping bags to dawn delivery consumers, according to the retailer.

“Since we have started adopting eco-friendly delivery policies in 2013, when we stopped using paper boxes, we have become the first in the country to adopt electric refrigerated delivery trucks,” said SSG.com CEO Choi Woo-jung. “After going through the trial operation, we plan to contribute to environmental protection through the gradual expansion of the service.”

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]