Hyundai Glovis, the logistics arm of Hyundai Motor Group, said Wednesday that it has established the world’s first marine shipping system optimized for electric vehicles, in step with the swiftly expanding eco-friendly car market.

The company has recently renewed its manual for EV ocean transportation and applied it to the loading, shipping and unloading procedures.

Due to the battery cell installed at the bottom layer of the vehicle, EVs require additional care than conventional internal combustion engine cars, officials explained.

The company has also developed a system to automatically provide the shipper with key information, such as the state of charge of the EVs. The information may be used as preliminary data for a safe uploading process.

Throughout shipping, the vehicles will be subject to constant checkups regarding not only the battery status but also the exterior conditions, temperature, and humidity.

Providing against accidents and emergency situations, the company has made it mandatory to carry out one or more correspondence training sessions every quarter.

In a partnership with the Korea Register of Shipping, Hyundai Glovis will work on developing its latest manual into a universal EV-customized shipping standard, officials added. KR is one of the world’s top seven ship classification service providers, and authorized by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries here.

“The new system will be handy for all EV makers and distributors across the world, especially for relatively rookie businesses that lack experience in global shipping,” the company’s official said.

The Hyundai affiliate is estimated to have shipped around 180,000 units of EV last year, accounting for some 40 percent of the global volume.

The global EV market is anticipated to expand at around 29 percent each year for the next decade to reach 11.2 million units in 2025 and 31.1 million units in 2030 from the estimated 2.5 million units this year, according to Deloitte Consulting.

The company’s net profit for the January-March period came to 129.59 billion won ($116.8 million), down 19 percent from a year earlier.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)