TNT deliveries gain ground

TNT Express Worldwide (Thailand) country general manager Alan Miu said the company pioneered door-to-door road transport in Asia five years ago.

TNT recently announced its success in extending its Asian road network into Cambodia, adding more than 1,500 kilometres to its existing 6,000km running from Singapore to Thailand and on to China.

The move establishes TNT as the only express integrator to provide a fully integrated door-to-door express road service to and from Phnom Penh.

TNT's road hub in that city connects seamlessly with the company's nationwide domestic network across Cambodia and on to Bangkok in one direction and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in the other.

Miu said TNT's road transport covered seven Asian countries.

"It's a cross-border express road network that links up Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China," he said

Miu said mainland Southeast Asia had a great potential for growth, with 174 million people and a combined gross domestic product of US$415 billion (Bt14.16 trillion). However, other major logistics-service players, such as German-based Schenker and Hong Kong-based Kerry Logistics, also want to expand their own road-transport services in Asia, said an industry watcher.

"The Asian road network can help cut shipments cost by up to 20 per cent compared with air transport," said Miu. "Express and door-to-door services by road can be a better choice for clients, as they're cheaper than air transport and faster than sea transport."

Moreover, TNT can provide "secure, reliable and time-definite" road-transportation solutions, with full tracking and tracing capability that caters for premium domestic and international customers.

"We operate a truck like an aircraft, with a fixed schedule and predictable departure and arrival times," he said.

Miu said since first doing business in Thailand 29 years ago, TNT has been the market leader in providing a complete range of both international and domestic express services, with more than 1,000 employees and a fleet of 280 vehicles. It even flies its own B747 freighter aircraft within Asia.

"We now operate 25-30 air-freight flights, including shipments together with other aircraft, from and to Suvarnabhumi Airport," said Miu.

He said the company's air-freight service showed signs of gradually picking up.

TNT has a fleet of 47 cargo aircraft, 27,000 lorries and more than 74,000 staff worldwide. Millions of parcels, documents and pieces of freight are delivered each week across the globe.

TNT is a major global player, with the most extensive express ground and air network in Europe, the US and Asia, Miu said.