TNT invests additional ?4.5 million in Asian road network

MANILA, Philippines - TNT, one of the world’s leading express integrators, announced that it will make a further 4.5 million euro (about $7.61 million) investment in its successful Asia road network (ARN), which currently serves six countries and 127 cities in Southeast Asia and southern China. This brings the total investment to date in the fully integrated ARN to more than 12.5 million euro (about S$21.4 million).

Most of the new investment will be to acquire a fleet of trucks specially designed to suit pan-Asian routes. The 41-foot trucks and trailers are larger and more environmentally friendly than their predecessors. This announcement coincides with the fifth anniversary of TNT’s unique ARN. TNT has had brisk and growing demand for its road solutions in the last five years. Capacity on the ARN has grown over 20 percent year-on-year. At the same time, volume between 2009 and 2010 (year-to-date) has grown by 70 percent. In Singapore alone, volume growth grew by 52 percent between January 2009 and January 2010.

Onno Boots, TNT Southeast Asia and India regional managing director, said, “Five years ago, we announced our intention to develop a road network in Asia, very much like our Europe road network. We were the first to attempt such an ambitious project in Asia, and we faced a set of unique challenges. TNT did what we do best, which was to innovate, facilitate and create an unrivalled road network that offers our customers a combination of cost efficiency, speed, security and reliability. Over the years, we have seen the profile of freight diversify to include more high-value goods, such as electronics, healthcare products and automotive and industrial equipment.”

Transporting goods by road on the ARN is, on average, 30 percent cheaper than air transportation and three times faster than sea transportation. Apart from cost efficiencies from using the ARN, TNT has also noted that more businesses in Asia are taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint by using overland transportation when the speed of delivery is not the most important factor.

In the future, TNT expects to see a further shift in transportation from air to road as the ARN and other international transport routes continue to develop.