Meet the world's largest integrated vehicle factory, located within the port

Brand-new vehicles straight from the factory head directly to ships for export; the automaker in the city of Ulsan has five units (Rodrigo Nardelli/TV Tribuna) (Rodrigo Nardelli/TV Tribuna)

There were no cars on car transporters on the highway. Nevertheless, brand-new vehicles straight from the factory kept arriving at a port terminal in the city of Ulsan, South Korea. Were everybody awaiting their turn to board ships for export? But how did these cars reach there?

Hyundai, the manufacturing company, has been built in the port area. There are currently five units, with a sixth under construction to produce electric vehicles. Together, they form the world's largest integrated car factory. From there, vehicles go directly into ships.

This was one of the scenes visited today, in the final day of the International Mission Porto & Mar Brazil - South Korea 2024, organized by Grupo Tribuna. Hyundai's Ulsan plant employs 31 thousand workers and spans an area of 5 millions square meters.

Union-affiliated workers handle the task of moving cars to ships (Rodrigo Nardelli/TV Tribuna)

Numbers

The factory opens at 6:30 am and operations continue until midnight. They produce 6,000 cars per day, totaling over 1.5 million vehicles annually. Most of the production line is automated, but there are manual services such as assembling and fitting doors.

Approximately 65% of Hyundai's cars are destined for export, justifying the choice of a port for the factory location.

Eliezer Giroux, government relations manager at Portonave (SC), highlights the vertically integrated process. "It's a company that handles everything from car manufacturing, storage, loading, and even ships. This streamlines the process".

Otávio Grottone, responsible for regulatory affairs at Eldorado Brasil Celulose, sees economic benefits. "Not just in terms of time, but money as well. There's a cost reduction, and the money stays with the company and is redistributed to the community".

Demonstration includes the latest electric vehicles and upcoming market launches (Rodrigo Nardelli/TV Tribuna)

Hyundai operates 100 ships globally. Glovis manages the vehicle transport operations. Within the terminal, union-affiliated workers handle the task of moving cars from the yard to the ships.

During the visit, the brazilian group received news that the first Hyundai Palisade SUV produced will arrive in Brazil by the end of August, transported via ship to Santos.

Company built a mini-city in an area of 6.8 million m².

How long does it take to build a large container ship? At HHI in Busan, South Korea, part of Hyundai, it takes 11 months. The process resembles assembling large structures.

To achieve this scale, the company has constructed a mini-city across 6.8 million square meters, employing 34 thousand workers. Here, the company often develops solutions for its own operations.

Participants of the International Mission Porto & Mar inside the company (Rodrigo Nardelli/TV Tribuna)

Structure

Business leaders and officials from the International Mission Porto & Mar Brazil - South Korea 2024 were given a guided tour of the company. They traveled within a bus through the terminal where workers move around on bicycles or company-owned bus lines.

The tour began with observing sheet metal assembly, a process that forms initial components. Each part of the ship is built separately. Gradually, it takes shape, becoming massive.

Entrepreneur Rodrigo Lopes Salgado, managing partner of T2S Tecnologia, expressed surprise with the structure he witnessed. "We were expecting to visit a shipyard, but inside there were nine or ten gigantic companies. This expands our perspective and shows how technology and innovation can benefit the port sector", Lopes emphasized.