TNT marks fifth year of the Asia Road Network with a further injection of €4.5 million over next two years

Bulk of investment earmarked for new fleet of trucks specially designed for Asia TNT, one of the world’s leading express integrators, today announced that it will make a further 4.5 million euro (about S$7.61m) 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 past five years. Capacity on the ARN has grown over 20 per cent year-on-year. At the same time, volume between 2009 and 2010 (year to date) has grown by 70 per cent. In Singapore alone, volume growth increased by 52 per cent between January 2009 and January 2010. Onno Boots, Regional Managing Director of TNT Southeast Asia and India 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 per cent 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. “TNT understands that air freight will continue to be an attractive proposition for companies with time-sensitive requirements. To facilitate a complete door-to-door solution within Asia, TNT decided to invest into the development of a Regional Hub located in Singapore two years ago. This integrated air and road hub was specifically built, at a cost of around S$20 million, to allow a seamless link between our air and road services. Basically, if the trucks were any closer to the planes, they’d be on them. The idea being, of course, to minimize handling times and costs and allow our customers unparalleled reach and access across Southeast Asia and India either by road, air or a combination of both,” said Onno Boots The ARN is seamlessly linked to TNT’s air networks and is supported by its multiple facilities across the region, most notably the S$20 million TNT Regional Hub – an integrated air and road hub located in Singapore. TNT plans to announce further security enhancements to the ARN and plans to expand the road network further into mainland China and subsequently into India. For more information and inquiries, please contact: Chanpim Merakate Public Relations Manager Vivaldi Public Relations Office: +66 02 612 2253 ext 105 Fax: +66 02 612 2254 Email: [email protected] Web: www.vivaldipr.com For pictures, video, and the latest news of TNT, please visit TNT’s online press room: http://group.tnt.com/press/index.aspx Click for photo release at www.thaipr.net

• ข่าวthe Asia Road Network
• ข่าวo:tran
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