TPG awarded contract to manage finished vehicle mixing center in US

Mail, express and logistics company TPG N.V., through TNT Logistics North America has been awarded a contract to manage the operation of a national mixing center in Kansas City, USA for handling finished cars, trucks and other production passenger vehicles.

The center, which is the largest of its kind anywhere in the country, receives finished vehicles from more than 20 Ford Motor Company manufacturing plants across the U.S. and Canada. “The operation essentially functions as a giant cross-dock (sort of a warehouse) for mixing and merging railcars as well as automobiles within railcars and ensuring that they will be processed to the required destination ” said Todd Pye, manager of rail sector business development, TNT Logistics North America. “The objective is to switch and build trains of these finished automobiles that all have the same rail hub as their destination.” TNT will process automobiles destined for approximately 50 ramps. From these ramps, the finished automobiles are destined for automobile dealerships in various regions of the country.

165 TNT employees will process more than 600,000 automobiles through the center annually. While this is not TNT’s first finished vehicle operation, it is the largest in size and scope for the company. “We’re one of the largest and most tenured providers of automotive logistics services,” said Jeff Hurley, managing director TNT Logistics North America. “Nearly fifty percent of our business is in support of auto manufacturers, their suppliers and after market parts distribution. In the case of the mixing center, TNT has already been working with Ford for several years, providing a significant portion of the inbound production parts for their plant in Kansas City.”