News / Hankook secures export space for its tyres with Hapag-Lloyd contract

The contract signing ceremony with on the left Hapag-Lloyd’s Asia MD Hans Schaefer and Hankook Tire & Technology CEO Lee Soo-il.

South Korea’s largest tyre-maker, Hankook, has signed a three-year shipping contract with German mainline operator Hapag-Lloyd to ensure sufficient shipping capacity, even as other shippers seem ambivalent about being locked into current freight rates.

Neither Hankook nor Hapag-Lloyd disclosed the shipping routes covered, citing business confidentiality.

The pair have had a business relationship for around 20 years, the liner operator handling a major proportion of the tyre-maker’s exports. Hankook said it decided on signing a contract with Hapag-Lloyd because of difficulties in ...