Press release
Innovative Service Strengthens Market Leadership and Competitive Edge
TNT-Hoau Extends Day-Definite Road Distribution Service to Zhejiang Hangzhou
(Hangzhou, 23 April 2009 ) TNT-Hoau, the wholly-owned subsidiary of TNT in China, today announced the expansion of its Day-Definite road distribution service to Zhejiang Hangzhou. The Day-Definite road distribution service will link Zhejiang Province, a key economic and manufacturing hub in the Yangtze River Delta, to China’s other two key economic regions of Bohai Economic Rim and Pearl River Delta, through its connection to Beijing and Guangzhou. This on-time, secure and reliable road service from Zhejiang Hangzhou is another milestone development of the TNT Hoau Day-Definite road distribution service in China, following closely after the launch of the service in Shanghai in February 2009.
In this current challenging economic climate, customers are interested in cost-saving measures, without compromising quality, speed and security. The industry-leading road distribution service has been designed to meet this specific need of corporate customers who see value in their shipments arriving on time, in good condition, and on a highly consistent basis. For example, a shipment by the Day-Definite service from Zhejiang Hangzhou to Beijing will take about two days but the cost will be one-third the price as compared to air-freight.
As China’s leading domestic road distribution service provider, TNT-Hoau is in a good position to provide customers with innovative road solutions to reduce logistics costs and improve operation efficiency. The company already manages the industry’s most extensive road distribution network consisting of 1,260 depots served by 56 domestic hubs covering more than 500 Chinese cities. With the extension of the TNT-Hoau Day-Definite road distribution service to Zhejiang Hangzhou, the coverage of this premium road distribution service, launched in February, will reach 231 depot pairs. By July 2009, the TNT-Hoau Day-Definite road distribution service will be offered between 260 depot pairs. The Day-Definite service will complement TNT-Hoau’s trusted less-than-truckload (LTL) road service to boast the company’s full-service offerings capability in China.
While China has achieved phenomena economic successes in the past years, lowering the cost of logistics still remains as a key challenge for China. The logistics costs as a percentage of GDP in China stands at a high of 18% as compared to a lower 10% and 9-11% in the USA and Europe respectively. At the same time, the logistics costs as a percentage of Total Product Cost in China amounts to 25 -30%, more than twice that of the global average of 10-15%.
“Reducing the cost of logistics will be a key consideration for many of our customers to increase their market competitiveness, especially during this challenging business climate. For TNT- Hoau, our focus has always been on creating the best products and services that will meet our customers’ needs and creating the most value for them,” said Michael Drake, Regional Managing Director, TNT North Asia. “The Day-Definite service, with its on-time, secure and service quality promise will do exactly this by helping our customers optimize their supply-chain processes and operational costs.”
The Day-Definite Services will offer customers with industry-leading innovative offerings. All shipments has been bar-coded to allow customers to ‘track and trace’ their shipments, via the internet, giving them greater control and planning opportunities, which can also save on supply chain cost. The Day-Definite service trucks are equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to enable ‘real-time’ tracking of each truck throughout the process. To ensure greater consistency, in terms of service quality to customers, a dedicated service hotline has been set up to support the launch of this service.
The rapidly-developing Zhejiang Province ranks fourth in terms of GDP contribution to China’s overall country GDP . Hangzhou, as its capital city, contributed nearly a fourth of the Zhejiang Province GDP.
“Since TNT-Hoau’s entry into the Zhejiang Hangzhou market 14 years ago, TNT Hoau has established itself as a strong leader in the market. We are confident that as long as we continue to invest in this market, through service innovations, infrastructural upgrading and network optimization, the market will continue to present huge growth potential for TNT- Hoau,” added Edward Xu, CEO of TNT-Hoau Group. “As a matter of fact, despite the current challenging economic climate, we have achieved tremendous growth in the Zhejiang market in the past 6 months and the extension of this premium Day-Definite service to Zhejiang Hangzhou demonstrates our long-term commitment to this market. We firmly believe it will further strengthen our market leadership position in Hangzhou, and the wider Zhejiang Province.”
TNT Hoau is a wholly-owned subsidiary of TNT in China and it is critical to TNT’s global strategic intentions of becoming the leader in China.
Copyright © 2009 TNT China