TNT aims for regional logistics hub in Thailand

TNT Express is aiming to be the logistics gateway for the Greater Mekong region now that it has completed its huge depot in Rangsit, Pathum Thani.
The 3,465-square-metre depot will officially open next month, said Alan Miu, TNT’s Thailand country manager.
The depot will serve as its distribution centre and link with 26 outlets nationwide to tap into double-digit demand growth.
The network’s coverage area includes southern China, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, the countries through which the Mekong River travels.
The logistics network in the Greater Mekong is a part of sub-regional pact to connect transport routes running through China, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
The company said its logistics facilities across Asia would help its network link more than 120 cities with a full range of logistics services in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and China.
Thailand has strong potential as it serves as a production base for various industries such as automobiles, electronics and medical care.
Mr Miu said the new depot was one of the group’s major investment projects in Asia; it has a total budget of 100 million euros to spend from 2008 to 2012.
The budget will be used for expansion of its air express fleet, trucks and depots. Logistics networks in Thailand also cover the group’s time-critical express delivery service, which offers services for goods that require rush delivery.

The Thai unit of Dutch-based TNT Express Worldwide N.V. is aiming to be the logistics gateway for the Greater Mekong region now that it has completed its huge depot in Rangsit, Pathum Thani.
The 3,465-square-metre depot will officially open next month, said Alan Miu, TNT’s Thailand country manager.
The depot will serve as its distribution centre and link with 26 outlets nationwide to tap into double-digit demand growth.
The network’s coverage area includes southern China, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, the countries through which the Mekong River travels.
The logistics network in the Greater Mekong is a part of sub-regional pact to connect transport routes running through China, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
The company said its logistics facilities across Asia would help its network link more than 120 cities with a full range of logistics services in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and China.
Thailand has strong potential as it serves as a production base for various industries such as automobiles, electronics and medical care.
Mr Miu said the new depot was one of the group’s major investment projects in Asia; it has a total budget of 100 million euros to spend from 2008 to 2012.
The budget will be used for expansion of its air express fleet, trucks and depots. Logistics networks in Thailand also cover the group’s time-critical express delivery service, which offers services for goods that require rush delivery.
Last week the leading European logistics group launched its first express delivery service in Asia at Singapore’s Changi International Airport, where TNT’s inaugural Boeing 747-400 ER freight flight landed.
Onno Boots, managing director of TNT Express Asia, said its express delivery service targeted customers buying high-technology products, equipment, machinery and health-care goods.

He said Greater China, one of Southeast Asia’s biggest trade partners, represented 24 percent of total express volume via air transport in Southeast Asia, followed by 20 percent in Europe. Volume between Asean countries accounts for 11 percent.