Hyundai Glovis, the logistics arm of Hyundai Motor Group, became the first global shipping company to secure an exclusive shipping space in the port of Bremerhaven, Germany, Europe’s largest automobile shipping port.

Hyundai Glovis announced Wednesday it will establish a 100,000 square-meter open storage yard, big enough to store around 5,000 cars, and three berths in the port of Bremerhaven.

The company sealed a contract with BLG Logistics Group that manages the terminals at the port to establish a joint-stock company called BLG Glovis BHV GmbH to build the required infrastructure.

An annual average of 2 million cars, including those of European carmakers such as Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, and BMW, were imported and exported through the port of Bremerhaven in the past three years, Hyundai Glovis said.

Hyundai Glovis’ exclusive shipping space will be located at the Kaiserhafen terminal.

The company has continuously worked on increasing sales from non-Hyundai Motor Group customers, by enhancing maritime shipping competitiveness through establishment of a dock for automobiles in Pyeongtaek Port in 2018, and securing an additional 1-square-kilometer open storage yard for cars at the port in Philadelphia.

Glovis’ sales to non-company affiliates had continuously increased since it first jumped into shipping industry in 2010.

In this year’s third quarter, the company recorded its highest non-affiliated sales so far, taking up to 60 percent its entire sales.

In 2010, non-affiliated sales took only up to 12 percent of all sales, followed by 40 percent in 2016, 42 percent in 2017, 44 percent in 2018, and 52 percent in 2019.

“We will enhance shipping management efficiency through continuous investment in infrastructure such as establishing exclusive shipping spaces and managing the world’s second biggest building berth. We will continue to increase the proportion of non-affiliated sales through an aggressive sales strategy and gain unrivaled competitiveness in the field of automobile carriers,” an official from Hyundai Glovis said.