They claim to be one of the fastest and most secure express carriers. The secret is that they are also the most famous walkers in the world. TNT Bulgaria just celebrated its 10th anniversary and the company is already looking to the future, where Bulgaria will be a European Union member and a place where competition among what they call integrators will be brought to a new level.
According to Ivan Vassilev, general manager of TNT Bulgaria, you could call them anything else but couriers. Not that he has anything against the business of delivering letters and small parcels. What matters to him, however, is that TNT, similar to the other four global majors in the business, is delivering a much more complex and multifunctional service.
To be an integrator, Vassilev says, means not only to deliver letters door-to-door but also to take care of cargo that sometimes reaches many tons. The latter adds to the service much more – organisation, skills, hubs, aeroplanes, large trucks, logistics and others.
“We offer a service that is largely influenced by the state of the economy and the market, as well as by all other trends in a country. If there is investment and investors in Bulgaria then there is movement of goods and services between the country and the world, and this is where our branch comes in to transport all these,” says Vassilev.
He says that turnovers in the sector have been rising by a steady 20 per cent each year, which, in his view, is a very serious record. It also shows that Bulgaria’s economy is developing and becoming more and more active.
Vassilev does not want to say that TNT is the biggest on the market in Bulgaria. In fact, he says that due to the different specialisations of the integrator majors here, it is impossible to say who is the biggest.
“TNT offers a unique service related to road transport – the delivery of larger cargo, sometimes of hundreds kg and even tons, that is also time sensitive. This is where TNT is number one on the Bulgarian market. Speaking of air cargo, this is where we meet strong competition from other companies,” he says.
He also points out something else very important for the business: the geographical specialisation of the majors. Because, if in Europe TNT is the absolute number one with the most developed network, in the US it is bound to conform with the larger networks of the other majors, which are all US-originating.
After Bulgaria’s accession to the EU, TNT and the entire sector will have to walk faster. Not only because some of the currently existing customs and other formalities will disappear, but also because fierce competition from smaller players will appear.
Speaking of fast walking, it seems to be a part of TNT’s global philosophy. Maybe this is why the company is the biggest supporter of the Walk the World initiative. The unique charity event gathers tens of thousands of participants in a world-wide walk for miles through various weather conditions to draw attention to the 800 million people in the world who do not have enough to eat, despite there being enough food in the world for every man, woman and child to live healthy, productive lives.
Walk the World is an initiative in the framework of a long-term partnership between TNT’s mother company TPG (TNT Post Group) and the United Nations World Food Programme, in which TNT participates with skills, resources and employees, helping the fight against hunger all over the world.
It is initiatives like this that make TNT proud to call itself a socially responsible company. But another of its virtues is that it not only pays attention to developing its business operations in this country, but also to contributing to the development of Bulgaria’s social and cultural life.
