Express

Milano Mega

Targeted investment worth € 12 million

Milano Mega lives up to its name

At Milan's Linate Airport a 40,000 square metre air and road express freight centre has become operational. The facility significantly strengthens TNT’s competitive position in Southern Europe.

Both a distribution centre (hub) and a depot for collecting and ordering goods, Milano Mega became operational as of 14 May this year. “As its name implies, Milano Mega is also extremely large,” says TNT Express’s managing director Southern Europe Christian Drenthen. “The number of items that will pass through here is currently estimated at an annual five million, with a daily operational capacity of 45,000. Add to that the combination of functions, and you can see why the complex is so special. It is more than just a hub linking our air and road networks, of which there are several located at various airports; it is also a depot with which to serve the surrounding area. It houses a customer service centre and our sales management team is based there as well. We’re looking at an investment worth € 12 million in total. True, this project was in the pipeline even before the economic crisis reared its ugly head. If necessary, therefore, we could have opted to slow things down or even shelve the project altogether. That we chose not do so shows that we are confident about the future. Already we are market leaders here, and once the economy starts to recover our competitive position will prove to have been reinforced even further as a result. Besides, the project also saves us money; thanks to Milano Mega we have been able to close branches elsewhere.”

Competitive advantage

The new TNT Express centre is situated right next to the runway of Milan’s Linate Airport. “We are the only show in town,” Drenthen enthuses. “Our competitors all operate out of airports located quite some distance from the city. Even Malpensa International Airport lies considerably further west. That puts us in an advantageous position, since northern Italy’s transportation network revolves around Milan. The business is on our doorstep, so to speak, which means we are able to guarantee late pick-up and early delivery to our customers. The hub connects to our road network to the south of Europe, all the way to Greece. Also, it provides a direct link to Liege, home to all of TNT’s air operations, which in turn is connected to the whole of Europe, America, China, and other parts of the world. There are five outbound flights for Liege every week, from Monday to Friday night, as well as five inbound flights, from Tuesday morning to Sunday night. We are open for business 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Occupancy rates are excellent too, routinely hitting 75 percent both ways for a large-size Airbus 300. This figure does tend to fluctuate however. Occasionally it may drop to, say, 65 percent, but equally we see highs of 85-90 percent. If push comes to shove, we can always revert to smaller-capacity aircraft, but at the moment there is no question of that happening.”

However, the region is no more immune to recession than any other. “The Italian economy is among the weakest in Europe,” Drenthen adds. “In Italy the recession first became apparent a year before anywhere else, in 2008. Likewise, things will probably be slower to pick up here than elsewhere. So we are going through hard times, but that only means that the chances to emerge from this recession in better shape are even greater.

Milano Mega constitutes a deliberate investment, in other words. While its gross national product may lag behind compared to the rest of Europe, Italy is still home to some of the strongest and most popular brands around: the major fashion labels, the cosmetics industry, Ferrari; these are all very interesting clients. We can say that lifestyle, health care, and the pharmaceutical and automotive industries are our principal markets.”

Optimisation offensive

Both the strength of TNT’s position and the closeness of its customer ties were in evidence during the official opening of Milano Mega, which was attended by numerous media, government and business luminaries. There was a lot of praise for TNT’s efforts. Nike Italy’s customer operations manager Ludovic Salens put it as well as anyone: “Milano Mega is a perfect example of how innovation, continuous improvement, flexibility and responsiveness are deeply rooted within TNT's concept of delivering a superior customer service.”

Another thing that has got people excited is the technology that is used throughout the complex. The process of sorting, weighing, measuring, photography, and scanning of parcels that fly past at break-neck speed is fully automated. Security too has been beefed up to levels not witnessed before, with 163 cameras, 273 alarm sensors and 78 pieces of equipment for scanning employee badges and visitor passes. “We have made huge strides here as far as optimisation is concerned,” Christian Drenthen notes with great satisfaction.