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Cosco Group, the world's second largest and China's largest shipping company, together with TNT, a world leading global mail, express and logistics company, unveil a strategic partnership, with the formation of a Joint Venture (JV). The announcement is made jointly by Captain Wei Jiafu, President of Cosco Group and Mr Peter Bakker, CEO of TNT. The partnership will enable Cosco to further penetrate into the Asia Pacific logistics market, and it will enable TNT to expand its presence in China as well as its China-linked logistics business. As a first step in this strategic partnership, both industry leaders today signed the Letter of Intent for the establishment of a logistics JV. The JV aims at becoming the world's recognised leader in supply chain management in the Asia Pacific region. The combined strengths of both companies will create more comprehensive service offerings and geographical coverage to customers.
The new 50/50 JV is expected to be operational in 2006. The activities that will be injected into the JV initially are Cosco's home appliance logistics business in China and TNT's Pallecon Logistics business in Australia. The combined warehouse space will be approximately 1 million square metres and the number of employees around 1,000. The near term objectives are to develop the home appliance logistics business and to introduce the Pallecon business into China. The JV is also aimed at the continued growth of Pallecon and the active development of China linked logistics in Australia.
The new JV combines the strengths of Cosco's home appliance market knowledge, customer base and nationwide network with TNT's global network, Best-in-Class IT platforms and value-added logistics know-how to offer customers with simplified, seamless, end-to-end supply chain solutions.
Peter Bakker CEO of TNT: "This partnership with Cosco is an important and significant step for our China strategy. The marriage of our know-how and global position in logistics to Cosco's shipping strength and Cosco logistics' China leadership is an excellent match that has potential to grow rapidly and become industry leader for China domestic business and China linked services in the world.
Wei Jiafu, President of Cosco Group, emphasized that Cosco Group has decided to enter into this strategic alliance with TNT, one of the leading global 500 companies, with a view to fully leverage TNT's technologies and advanced management, and Cosco's network, client base, and China market's experience in order to achieve maximum mutual benefits and effectively strengthen each other's market influence in China and the Asia-Pacific region. This is a partnership between two powerful players, embodying a significant move in Cosco's overseas expansion as an important component of Cosco's "strategic transformation from a global shipping carrier into a global logistics player." Founded on genuine goodwill and mutual support by both parties, this JV is bound to have a bright future.
Notes to editors
Aboout TNT N.V.
TNT N.V. is a global provider of mail, express and logistics services. The group employs over 161,000 people in 63 countries and serves over 200 countries. For 2004 the company reported sales of €12.6 billion. TNT N.V. is publicly listed on the stock exchanges of Amsterdam, New York, London and Frankfurt.
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