TNT Increases Investment in Asia Road Network

TNT has announced that it will make a further 4.5 million euro investment in its 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 theirpredecessors.

The June 22 announcement coincided with the fifth anniversary of the ARN. TNT says it has had brisk and growing demand for its road solutions in the last five years, and 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.

TNT’s new fleet will comprise of 12 trucks and 14 41-foot trailers. Produced by Scania, the model R380 trucks were specially designed for TNT and tailored specifically for efficiency on pan-Asian routes. The trucks are also amongst the first Scania R-series assembled and sold in the region, coinciding with TNT’s requirement for double beds for the long, 7650km routes within the ARN.

The new trucks represent the “future of road transportation in the region”, says TNT, which collaborated closely with Scania on design and security features (provided by Astrata) and which it claims are “completely unique in the region”.

Some of the design features of TNT’s new trucks include:

• Increased capacity – capacity on the new trucks is 20 per cent greater than that of previous trucks

• Lighter – three tons lighter than predecessors, meaning reduced wear and tear

• Enhanced security – in-built security system that enables efficient, round-the-clock remote monitoring of the trucks

• Greener – improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions; new trucks are 17 per cent more efficient when measured against the industry benchmark.

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.

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. Over the years, we have seen the profile of freight diversify to include more highvalue goods, such as electronics, healthcare products and automotive and industrial equipment.”