The network covers key economic and business hubs including Bohai Bay, the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas and major economic regions in central and western China. TNT says the service will cost about one-third of that for air freight.
TNT Hoau launched the Day-Definite road distribution service in China in February 2009. The network has expanded to 26 cities and other cities will be added when the market allows. South China contributed to more than 30 percent of the firm's total day-definite business in the past year.
Xu Shuibo, CEO, said that the company will soon put another 400 trucks into use.
According to Cui Zhongfu, secretary-general of China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, China has more than 780,000 road transportation firms, with the top 20 taking less than 2 percent of the total market, compared to the market share of 60 percent occupied by the top five road transportation companies in the United States.
"The fragmented status quo explains why many road transportation firms in China, poorly equipped, resort to the practice of undercutting for temporary survival," Cui remarked.
