Hyundai Motors said on Friday that exports to Europe and North Africa, which typically transit through the Middle East, were being disrupted by the conflict in the region, underscoring growing strains on global supply chains.
The disruption highlights how the conflict is choking key shipping routes, driving up logistics costs, delaying deliveries, and adding pressure on the automaker and its suppliers.
Hyundai Motor is the world’s biggest third automaker by sales with its affiliates Kia warned that even if the Iran war ended soon the impact would linger.
Kim Dong-jo, a senior vice president at Hyundai Motor’s Global Policy Office, said rebuilding supply chains would take time.
“Even if the conflict ends, it will take a considerable amount of time to rebuild and restore existing supply chains,” said Kim, who was speaking at Pyeongtaek-Dangjin Port, southwest of the capital Seoul, where government officials, logistics firms and automakers met to assess the impact of the war.
The meeting took place at the port where cars were lined up on the wharf to be shipped on a giant vehicle carrier, set to carry about 4 900 vehicles and bound for the United States west coast.
Kim said rising logistics costs and raw material constraints linked to the conflict were also pressuring parts suppliers and production, adding that Hyundai was working with suppliers and the government to minimise disruption.
-Reuters-
