Hyundai Glovis to invest $100m in Philadelphia port expansion

Hyundai Glovis will invest $100 million in a Philadelphia port expansion project, bolstering the East Coast finished-vehicle logistics hub it has operated since 2010 to strengthen its capabilities across maritime transport, local unloading and storage.

The Pennsylvania state government announced a port expansion plan worth $837 million on Tuesday (local time) at a ceremony at the Port of Philadelphia attended by Governor Josh Shapiro, according to industry sources. It is the largest investment in the port's history.

Glovis America, Hyundai Glovis's US subsidiary, and local logistics firm Holt Logistics will each invest $100 million in the project. The Pennsylvania state government will contribute $371.5 million, while the federal government will provide $266 million.

The core of the plan is to expand vehicle and container handling facilities. A new berth will be built for the first time in 50 years, and an adjacent site of about 615,000 square meters will be developed into a logistics facility. Upgrades to existing docks and additional cargo-handling equipment are also planned. Construction is expected to begin early next year.

Once completed, the expansion will increase the port's vehicle-handling capacity by 18 percent and its container-handling capacity by 122 percent. The port is expected to process more than 100,000 additional vehicles per year. The expansion is also projected to create about 6,000 new jobs.

The Port of Philadelphia is the primary East Coast finished-vehicle logistics hub that Hyundai Glovis has developed over 16 years. Operations began in 2010 when Hyundai Motor and Kia import volumes that had been split between the ports of New York-New Jersey and Baltimore were consolidated there. The operating site started at about 360,000 square meters and had grown to roughly 1.07 million square meters as of 2023 — nearly three times its original size — and the number of vehicle processing centers expanded from one to two.

In 2019, the Southport Auto Terminal opened following a $10 million investment by Hyundai Glovis. The terminal, which received a total investment of $110 million, sits on a site of about 630,000 square meters and can handle up to 350,000 vehicles per year. Vehicles can be unloaded from ships and then inspected, serviced and stored all within the same terminal.

Throughput has grown consistently. In 2022, the port processed a then-record 221,022 vehicles, and in January 2023 cumulative throughput surpassed 2 million units. Hyundai Glovis has expanded its business by handling cargo not only for Hyundai Motor and Kia but also for other automakers.

The Philadelphia investment also aligns with Hyundai Glovis's strategy to scale up its pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) fleet. In April, the company deployed the Glovis Leader, the world's largest PCTC with a capacity of 10,800 small cars. The company aims to expand its PCTC fleet to 128 vessels by 2030 and grow its annual finished-vehicle maritime transport volume from 3.4 million units to 5 million units.

The investment is expected to strengthen Hyundai Glovis's end-to-end logistics capabilities on the East Coast of North America, connecting maritime transport with port unloading, storage and inland distribution. It should also help the company secure additional US-bound export volumes from European and Asian automakers beyond Hyundai Motor and Kia. Last year, non-affiliate customers accounted for 53 percent of Hyundai Glovis's finished-vehicle maritime transport sales.

Scott Cornell, CEO of Glovis America, said the company must "build terminal handling capabilities befitting the world's largest finished-vehicle maritime carrier and, above all, respond to customer demand," calling the project "an important milestone in developing the Port of Philadelphia into a leading maritime terminal."

A Hyundai Glovis official said the details — including the final investment amount, specific investment targets and timing — are still under review.