TNT invests S$15 million (US$10.9 million) to expand Singapore country depot

Singapore - Leading provider of integrated express services TNT launched its newly designed and expanded Singapore country depot and an enhanced customer contact centre.

According to TNT, the enhanced integrated facility which is located within its existing 180,000 square feet complex on Changi South Lane will cater to the growing demand for TNT's express and freight services in South East Asia and help to strengthen the network coverage, connectivity and infrastructure of the organisation.

The integrated facility will allow TNT more efficiency in its communications and operations, thereby leading to a seamless supply chain management and better servicing abilities. It will provide an end-to-end supply chain solution, and function as the sorting and distribution centre for shipments.

"Singapore saw a 15.6% increase in external trade last year and is one of TNT's fastest growing markets. At the same time, demand for freight express services between South East Asia, China and Europe... have been strong and make up almost 50% of total air trade volume" said Damien Tan, managing director, TNT Singapore. "The key challenge in times of growth is to maintain high service levels. These new investments in infrastructure go towards enhancing the overall service levels for our customers and positions TNT Singapore for a significant role in TNT's long-term regional growth strategy."

TNT has announced its plan to invest more than 100 million euros (US$ 156 million) over the next 5 years to strengthen its position in Southeast Asia.

The company has also released second-quarter figures for 2008 and had commented that Q2 reported an "unusual" business mix. April and May saw stable trading conditions but the month of June saw sudden drops in air express volume growth.

TNT CEO Peter Bakker said "the sharp rise in fuel prices during the quarter and the general economic outlook impacted both our customers and us."

Revenue for Q2 2008 increased by 4.5% to 2,809 million euros (US$4,377 million) from Q2 2007, after foreign exchange fluctuations.

The Express division saw revenue increase by 10.7% to 1,716 million euros (US$2,674 million). After taking into account foreign exchange fluctuations, adjusted growth was lower at 6.7%. Growth in Express was due mainly to high double-digit increases in emerging economies such as Brazil, China and India.

Q2 saw an overall decrease in growth of premium air express products, bolstering the change to the road-based economy product, which saw continued strong volumes.

Bakker commented, "The resilience of TNT is, however, best demonstrated by the fact that the volumes in our European Road Network have continued to grow throughout the quarter and in June. Also, our emerging market activities in Brazil, China and India, with the connecting lanes to Europe, have all shown double-digit growth."