Dutch courier TNT Express said Monday it would slash 4,000 jobs by the end of 2015, citing fierce competition on increasing price pressures in global markets.

The company announced it was aiming to save some 220 million euros ($286.8 million) over the next three years and added it would focus on strengthening its European operations. Its foreign operations in China and Brazil would be wound down and cargo freight capacities curtailed, TNT reported.

Simultaneously, the Dutch firm said it would invest about 200 million euros in logistics and applied informatics over the same period.

Non-merger fallout

The job cuts to affect some six percent of TNT's global workforce are part of a restructuring drive which the company needed to launch after EU anti-trust regulators blocked a 5.2-billion-euro bid by United Parcel Service (UPS) for the Dutch competitor.

UPS flagged the negative decision on January 14, saying it would withdraw its bid because of opposition from the EU executive.

The European Commission said the proposed merger would have reduced competition in 15 EU nations. "The deal would have drastically reduced choice between providers and probably led to price increases," the EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement in January.

hg/hc (Reuters, AFP)