Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) has commenced export operations utilising the railway mode. The company has dispatched a consignment of 125 cars to Nepal.
The first export consignment was flagged-off by Ganesh Mani S, Director- Production, Hyundai Motor India and S Subramanian, Additional Divisional Railway Manager of Southern Railway, from the Walajabad Railway Hub near the Irungattukkottai-based Hyundai production facility outside Chennai.
The train will reach the India-Nepal border at Nautanwa near the border town of Sonauli, from where the last-mile delivery will be through roadways owing to the topography of Nepal.
With this, the overall on-road movement time is expected to reduce from 8 to 5 days. This is also a more eco-friendly manner of transportation compared to road. It is claimed to reduce the carbon footprint by 20,260 tonnes.
Commenting on this latest initiative in the field of Outbound Logistics, Ganesh Mani S, Director-Production, Hyundai Motor India Ltd said, “Hyundai is committed to eco-friendly initiatives. As a progressive OEM, all our production processes follow Green practices for conservation of natural resources. The zero-wastage of water and using over 70% of renewable energy in the HMI plant has set a benchmark in the industry. To further enhance our initiatives following global direction of ‘Progress For Humanity’, we have commenced our first-ever eco-friendly Exports operations through Railways by dispatching 125 cars in 25 rakes in this first consignment to Nepal, reducing carbon footprint by 20,260 tonnes.”
“Our innovative practices like using coastal shipment for domestic logistics of cars have already been appreciated by the authorities, and we send out over 14% of our domestic car volumes by the rail route instead of road. Our thanks to the Indian Railways for their unstinted support in such innovative practices which will have long-lasting positive impact on the environment,” Mani further added.
Hyundai exports cars to over 88 countries. The 3 million vehicle export milestone was reported in 2020. HMIL reached its first 5 lakh export milestone in March 2008, 10 lakh in February 2010, 20 lakh cars in March 2014, and 30 lakh Cars in January 2020. In the domestic front, HMIL has also used waterways to send cars across India from the Irungattukkottai-based production facility.
