Hyundai Glovis, the logistics unit of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group, posted a 19 percent increase in operating profit in the fourth quarter ended December 31 last year, thanks to the brisk pure car carrier (PCC) business, sea transportation of non-Hyundai companies that accounted for 53 percent of its overall marine transport business.

The company announced in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that its operating profit from October to December last year totaled 228.4 billion won ($196.1 million), up 19 percent from a year ago. Sales rose 6.4 percent to 4.8 trillion won and net profit surged 71.4 percent to 229.4 billion won.

For full 2019, the company’s operating profit grew 23.4 percent from the previous year to 876.5 billion won. Sales gained 8.3 percent to 18.27 trillion won and net income 14.9 percent to 502.5 billion won.

Shares of Hyundai Glovis rose 1.04 percent to finish Wednesday at 146,000 won in Seoul.

The company said on Tuesday that its marine transport volume of finished cars of global automakers reached a record high of 53 percent as of the end of the third quarter last year. The share has been on a steady increase from a mere 10 percent in 2008 when it first entered the sea transport business to 40 percent in 2016, 42 percent in 2017 and 44 percent in 2018, thanks to its efforts to enhance shipment efficiency, strengthen partnerships with global ship owners and a robust logistics system based on its own terminals.

Its revenue from the sea transport business for non-Hyundai firms exceeded 2 trillion won for the first time last year after reaching 1.51 trillion won from January to September. The figure grew more than 14-fold from 142.3 billion won in sales it had recorded in 2008 from the business.

The company has global major finished car makers including GM, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volks Wagen and Tesla as its customers. It has been strengthening businesses with companies other than Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors by increasing shipments of heavy equipment and used cars. Last October, it signed a contract with local oil refiner GS Caltex to ship crude oil for 10 years through its newly built 300,000-ton very large crude carrier (VLCC), with an aim to scale up its business for global expansion as a comprehensive shipping company.

By Park Yun-gu and Choi Mira

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