Fleet of Hyundais lands in Phila.

A shiny Hyundai Elantra rolled off a ship resembling a floating parking garage at 8:01 a.m. Tuesday, and Philadelphia longshoreman Brian Edmunds drove the first car off to a nearby auto-finishing lot.

"It's a great day, a good shot in the arm for the port," said Bruce Boyett, general superintendent at Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in South Philadelphia, where the vessel, Hyundai 203, docked late Monday, laden with 1,811 factory-new vehicles.

By the end of this month, six more ships will arrive here, delivering nearly 18,000 Hyundai and Kia cars through Philadelphia's waterfront, headed for dealer showrooms.

Seventy-five longshoremen unloaded cars for seven hours, driving them across Columbus Boulevard to Pier 98 Annex.

At the lot, Teamster laborers began inspecting the cars, checking for scratches, washing the cars, installing accessories such as interior lighting and floor mats. After a final inspection, they will be loaded onto trucks and driven to showrooms from Maine to Virginia.

With 150,000 vehicles expected to arrive at the port here annually, Philadelphia will be the busiest U.S. port handling Hyundai and Kia car imports.

Philadelphia was chosen because it had available land near the water to prep the cars - about 85 acres at Pier 98 Annex and two adjacent lots, known as the Whiskey and Savage yards, near the Walt Whitman Bridge.

"We looked at different ports, and the one that seemed to have the best fit for us was Philadelphia," said Glenn Clift, chief operating officer for Hyundai Motor Co.'s logistics affiliate, Glovis America Inc.

Glovis is moving autos that used to go through the ports of Baltimore and New York into the Port of Philadelphia.

"We normally want to start up slow, kind of ramp up," Clift said. But the Philadelphia operation "hit the ground running," he said.

The ship delivering 520 Hyundai and 1,291 Kia cars Tuesday sailed from Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on July 3, with a stop in Brunswick, Ga.

Six more ships "are on the water coming," Clift said. The next two will arrive Monday and Tuesday.

Gov. Rendell has estimated 150,000 car imports annually will create 276 full-time jobs locally, and 415 jobs in the region.

The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) has projected the business will generate $7.2 million in personal income, $24 million in business activity, and $3.2 million in total taxes, including $2.2 million in federal taxes and $960,000 in state and local taxes.

So far, a Glovis subsidiary, Global Auto Processing Services (GAPS), has hired 210 workers for Teamster jobs at the auto-prep lot.

"We have stopped the hiring now. We are in the training process," said Andy Vogt, GAPS's director of operations. "Once we determine the actual need, we'll go back to hiring, if we have to. We are extremely pleased with the quality. We are off to a good start."

In addition to Teamsters, three longshoremen gangs of 25 each, who are members of the International Longshoremen's Association Local 1291, unloaded the first ship, along with 12 "lashers" who untied the cars secured for the ocean voyage.

Union president Boise Butler estimated 130 to 135 longshoremen eventually may be needed for larger vessels.

The deal was the culmination of more than a year's effort.

In early 2009, Philly Ro-Ro Partners, a Bellmawr developer, scouted for land for Glovis, on behalf of Hyundai Motor, and approached the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority about acreage it owns near Packer Avenue Marine Terminal.

The PRPA in April 2009 issued a request for proposals from bidders interested in leasing the land. Philly Ro-Ro signed a contract in October.

Between then and April, when Rendell announced the car deal, the parties settled on rates, negotiated contracts, and developed a facility that could process cars.

The port authority leases the site to Philly Ro-Ro, which subleases to Glovis, a logistics company, whose subsidiary, GAPS, processes the cars and supplies the labor.

Separately, the cars come in at Packer Avenue terminal, run by the Holt family, which employs the longshoremen who work on the docks.

"All those relationships had to be solidified through contracts, as the facility was being built, and as Glovis began to end their relationships in the ports where we were taking this cargo from," said Robert Blackburn, the Philadelphia port authority's senior deputy executive director.

The port authority will make up to $1 million in capital improvements to Pier 98 Annex, and Philly Ro-Ro will invest $3.7 million in an automobile-handling facility, paint booths, car wash, and a parts warehouse. Many of the improvements have already been made.

See more photos, and read Inquirer photographer Tom Gralish's description of the arrival, at go.philly.com/vehiclesEndText