Earlier this month, Honda chose to celebrate the export of its 1 millionth vehicle from the U.S. at the Port of Hueneme. Six years ago, Honda added its vehicles to the export mix going through the port, sending them to South Korea, China, Japan and Guam.
The Port of Hueneme stands to benefit indirectly in the next several years from an expected rise in the number of vehicles exported from North American manufacturing plants.
Export numbers at the port have been affected by the surge in the number of foreign automakers that have built factories on U.S. soil beginning in the early 1980s. South Korean automaker Hyundai built a manufacturing plant in Alabama 10 years ago, and vehicles produced there are shipped via rail to the Port of Hueneme for export.
South Korea is a new market for Japanese automaker Honda Motor Corp., said Jim Burrell, Honda’s U.S. assistant vice president for export sales. The company is taking advantage of the new U.S.-South Korea agreement, he said, and Burrell expects by the end of the year the company will have exported slightly more than 90,000 vehicles made in North America. Next year Honda believes it will export more than 100,000.