TNT Express has established a new MYR8 million (US$2.26 million) Global Express Centre in Penang, Malaysia, as well as having launched its new service offering to Asia, TNT Archive Services. "The presence of leading global business express delivery companies such as TNT reflects the vote of confidence and the positive climate of doing business in Penang and Malaysia. TNT's world-class services and high level of security certainly augurs well with the demand of the industry to serve the Northern Corridor Economic Region, which comprises the states of Perlis, Kedah, Penang and northern Perak," said Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, Chief Minister of Penang, at the opening ceremony. Gerry Power, managing director of TNT Malaysia and Brunei, said: "TNT is primed to support Penang's burgeoning manufacturing industry.
Demand for TNT's solutions has been especially strong, and with the growth in volumes in the past year, we feel it is time to scale up our operations. We are also attracted to Penang's potential to become a key centre for life-science and biotechnology industries, and this investment underscores the synergies between TNT's strengths and Penang's capabilities. The 22,000 square foot Global Express Centre is located at Bayan Lepas near to Penang's airport. It is equipped with advanced handling equipment and special customs facilities. In a separate development, TNT also launched its Archive services in Malaysia at a cost of MYR1million. The facility is intended to help companies, especially banks, legal firms and hospitals store records as legally required by the state for up to seven years, and in so doing free office space and manpower. TNT said that an average-sized firm with about 200 employees can generate between 100 to 500 A4-sized boxes of documents, while a bank's transaction and customer records can easily fill anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 boxes. TNT plans to open more archive facilities across Malaysia within the next six months, whereby business records are stored in a secure environment under camera surveillance 24 hours a day.