TNT ships 110 tonnes of food aid to Pakistan
Amsterdam / Liege, 18 October 2010 – On 16 October TNT airlifted 110 metric tonnes of food aid to Karachi to supply the Pakistani food assistance missions of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). This airlift supplements the facilities TNT already provides in Pakistan such as warehouse space and the necessary resources to operate these warehouses. The shipment of Plumpy’Doz, a peanut and vegetable fat supplementary food for infants that is fortified with vitamin and minerals, is enough to feed approximately 330,000 children for a week.
TNT has also committed to provide more facilities than previously communicated. The company now also offers warehousing facilities in Hyderabad next to Multan and Islamabad. Additional resources necessary to operate warehouses are also offered by TNT, such as operational staff, armed security guards, forklifts, pallets and temperature controlled containers.
The complete shipment of food supplement was collected from the production plant in France and was trucked to TNT’s air hub in Liege. Here the pallets were loaded on board a TNT Boeing 747-400 ERF cargo plane and airlifted to destination Karachi on 16 October, World Food Day. In Karachi the relief aid will clear customs and will be distributed to warehouses throughout Pakistan. The transport and the warehousing facilities will be provided free of charge to the WFP, representing a value of approximately EUR 400,000 in total.
Nearly 21 million people are victims of the worst monsoon floods to hit Pakistan in a generation. Two million houses have been damaged or destroyed entirely; 2.4 million hectares of farmlands devastated. To meet the crisis, the WFP launched a USD 600 million operation to deliver emergency food assistance and help flood victims recover from the disaster.
During the month of September, WFP provided more than 81,000 metric tonnes of life-saving food relief to 6.3 million people in 49 districts across flood-stricken areas of Pakistan. In October, WFP aims to reach 7.1 million people. Funding this huge operation remains a problem, however, with WFP currently facing a financial shortfall of almost USD 400 million. Without new contributions from donors, many programmes will have to be cut or curtailed beginning as early as November.
The situation in Sindh is serious with some districts still under water and the September planting season missed. In Balochistan too, the huge distances and widely scattered population are making it difficult to get to everyone. Recovery efforts are well underway in the northern parts of the country where people are working hard to get back on their feet. The WFP expects a poor harvest this season, but has high hopes for the one afterwards next summer as the flood waters have left behind a lot of fertile soil.
About TNT
TNT provides businesses and consumers worldwide with an extensive range of services for their mail and express delivery needs. Headquartered in the Netherlands, TNT offers efficient network infrastructures in Europe and Asia and keeps optimising its global network performance. TNT serves more than 200 countries and employs about 160,000 people. Over 2009, TNT reported €10.4 billion in revenues and an operating income of €648 million. TNT is officially quoted on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. TNT recognises its social responsibility and has formed partnerships with the United Nations World Food Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme to fight hunger and pollution in the world. Our efforts are being recognised: In 2010, TNT was again awarded “Supersector leader” for ‘Industrial Goods and Services’ (including ‘Industrial transportation’) of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI). More information about TNT can be found on its website http://group.tnt.com.