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rebound
EUKOR, one of the largest vehicle shipping companies
in the world, is 80 per cent Scandinavian owned and
ships over 3 million cars annually. We visited its office
and port facilities in Seoul, to see how the company is
doing in the wake of the global depression.
TEXT & PHOTO: JOJJE OLSSON (EXCEPT WHERE NOTED)
In the outskirts of Seoul,
hundreds of Korean made
Kia cars are being loaded
onto an enormous ship with
furious speed. They are only
a fraction of the 950,000
Kia vehicles being shipped
annually from this terminal
at the port of Pyeongtaek.
nd a bit further south, in the city of Ulsan, well over
THE NEXT YEAR, 2009, would however be worse for the industry.
Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported that the shipment of
vehicles from Korea decreased with almost 30 per cent year-on-
year from 2008, and the global overproduction of passenger cars
reached 57 per cent.
Entrance to the Pyeongtaek
terminal from where Kia cars are
being shipped by EUKOR.
PHOTO: ASIRAP/FLICKR.COM
Also, the global markets are changing, and in the past years
Hyundai-Kia has established an increasing number of facto-
»It is o!en cheaper to re-export
ries outside Korea, producing cars tailored for local markets in from overseas car plants than to
China, Europe, India and the US. produce close to the market«
But according to Martin Malmfors this will not significantly
affect EUKOR’s business in the long run: largest car exporter from the US actually is German BMW.
“Production of cars is far more expensive than transportation. Also, the world’s largest car factory, Hyundai in Ulsan, is
In China for instance, domestic regulations make it hard to set situated close to China, now the world’s largest car market,
up a factory, and the investments needed won’t always cover the further slicing transportation costs. Even from India, where
money potentially saved on lower wages and transportation.” Hyundai produces small cars for the domestic market, EUKOR
He says producing cars is a relatively automated process, and ships out some 350,000 vehicles annually.
the case would be different with a shipyard, which is a much
more labour intensive industry. THE WAY BACK FROM the volume drop in 2009 has been quick
The cost for transporting a passenger car from Asia to Europe for EUKOR. Despite the financial crisis and the establishment
would be “about 500 US dollars”, says Martin Malmfors. It is of Hyundai-Kia car factories abroad for local markets, 2010 was
often cheaper to re-export from overseas car plants than to pro- the most financially successful year ever in the company’s his-
duce close to the market. As an example, he points out that the tory, according to Martin Malmfors.
Kia cars waiting to be loaded onto EUKOR’s carriers at the Pyeongtaek terminal.
Just before the financial crisis, EUKOR placed several large ship age capacity to over 5,300 units. The new ships delivered last
orders. In 2007 it had about 30 ships still waiting to be deliv- year further improved those digits, even if the new statistics are
ered, according to Swedish publication Affärsvärlden, and in not available yet.
early 2008, Wallenius and Wilhelmsen placed orders for another
eight new super car carriers, worth an estimated 100 million US MARTIN MALMFORS SAYS EUKOR has actually been experien-
dollars per ship. cing a lack of space almost every year. Also, the ships must con-
Ships were obviously being delivered to EUKOR also during the stantly improve, as an increasing share of the cargo is made up
downturn, and a few of the orders made back in 2007–2008 are of buses, excavators and even high-speed trains.
yet to be delivered. But contrary to what one might believe, even EUKOR’s newest Pure Car and Truck Carriers (PCTCs) with
the orders placed back then came out as favourable for EUKOR: a capacity of over 8,000 CEU are the largest ships for vehicle
“The new ships are needed right away, and will be in full transportation in the world. They are equipped with 150-ton
service from day one. At present we charter ships from about 20 heavy-duty stern ramps, and a maximum of 6,70 meter deck
different shipowners, and many of those ships are decades old. clearance.
With the new ships every trip will be more efficient”, says Mar- A couple of those ships, ordered back in 2008, have just been
tin Malmfors. delivered. Still another handful of ships are being built at a
The new ships delivered in 2009 decreased the average age of shipyard in Japan, of which two are to be delivered during 2011,
the fleet to less than ten years per ship, and increased the aver- and two the year after. For a company of EUKOR’s size, there
Martin Malmfors, Head of
President’s Office, at the terminal in
Pyeongtaek just outside Seoul.
PHOTO: SAEBARYO/FLICKR.COM
EUKOR was founded in December 2002 after a somewhat unexpected outreach from the Korean
Shipping company Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) to Wallenius and Wilhelmsen.
PHOTO: EUKOR
PHOTO: EUKOR
Cars are being offloaded from
one of Eukor’s car carriers.
PHOTO: EUKOR
»Although being our customers –
with an obvious wish to minimize
their supply chain costs – as share-
holders they also have a natural
vested interest in the company’s
financial success«
tuations can appear. Analyses and ten-year plans are suddenly of
little use, as one has no choice but to respect the market forces.
Hence, EUKOR will in the future strive for a more diversified
customer portfolio, as well as chartering a significant part of its
fleet, in order to minimize potential damage if a new downturn
should occur.
There are currently six major vehicle shipping companies in
the world, of which five have about 15–20 per cent each of the
market. Martin Malmfors estimates that EUKOR is one of the
two largest, and together with sister company Wallenius Wil-
helmsen Logistics, they control about a third of all ocean trans-
portation of vehicles on the planet.