TNT partners with Japan Post, adds China air service

TNT partners with Japan Post, adds China air service    Japan Post and Dutch mail and global logistics provider TNT said they have created a joint venture to provide express delivery and logistics service in Asia.
   The partnership, first reported by the Yomiuri Shimbun daily earlier this month, will begin by offering co-branded express products to customers in Japan. TNT will manage the international express portion of the move and Japan Post will handle the domestic transport leg.
   The two postal groups said they planned to expand their efforts throughout the Asia-Pacific.
   TNT also said it has started a test program for air carriage and delivery of Japan Post packages to several destinations in Europe.
   The Japanese parliament last month passed legislation to privatize Japan Post.
   Meanwhile, TNT said its express division would lease two Boeing 747-400 extended range freighters from Guggenheim Aviation Partners to start a new direct service between Europe and China in 2006. TNT has its own airline and will operate the dedicate service itself. It is the first time TNT has operated a 747.
   TNT will lease the 100-ton capacity planes for 10 years. One plane will enter service in November 2006 and the other in June 2007. One plane will fly four round-trips per week between Shanghai and TNT’s hub in Liege, Belgium. TNT will use the second plane to add flights on that sector and will lease it to other airlines to maximize utilization.
   The lease “provides us with much needed additional capacity between China and Europe, where our volumes have grown by 35 percent year-to-date, compared with 2004,” TNT Chief Executive Peter Bakker said in a statement. “The investment in the two new freighters will also ensure service reliability and allow us to take advantage of the growth in manufacturing exports out of China.”