Global agri-business Syngenta has appointed Fleet Logistics to manage its fleet of 1,700 vehicles in 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

Syngenta, which is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, employs 28,000 people in 90 countries worldwide.

The company last year had worldwide sales of $15.1 billion and, through its Crop Protection and Seeds businesses, provides a fully integrated offering on a global crop basis. These are delivered through local market strategies to 19 territories in four regions: North America, Europe, Africa and Middle East, Latin America, and Asia Pacific.

Syngenta operates around 3,600 cars in Europe, Africa and Middle East and already works with Fleet Logistics in the UK, where it has a fleet of 155 vehicles.

Now, under a new four-year-agreement, Fleet Logistics will be responsible for managing Syngenta vehicles - cars, motorcycles and buses - in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. This will be supported from a newly established hub set up by Fleet Logistics in Singapore.

The company’s major shareholder, international certification provider TÜV SÜD Group, has existing businesses in the region, including operations in Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing.

Syngenta’s APAC fleet comprises mostly work cars used for grower or retailer visits, research and development field visits and production and supply sites.

The rest are executive-level cars for senior managers. The vehicles are funded locally by each country and separately by each department.

“We were managing car sourcing locally on a tactical level prior to appointing Fleet Logistics, with a fleet spend that was very significant for many APAC countries,” said Shanying Chng, APAC category manager - marketing, professional services, facility, travel and information systems. “There were also a lot of hidden costs, like fuel, which we knew could be reduced. 

“We wanted to manage our fleet spend strategically and holistically in APAC but found a lack of suppliers who could provide fleet management services independently on a regional level. So we initiated a discussion with Fleet Logistics, our European preferred fleet management company, to bring them into APAC since they already had plans to expand into the region.”

Chng said the appointment of Fleet Logistics had already brought in a number of changes in the region.

“The biggest is having a professional team to help us with the sourcing, provide us with advice and develop a regional fleet policy,” she said.

“Internally, multiple engagements with our local country stakeholders are critical so that they understand Fleet Logistics’ role, especially as using an independent fleet management company is a new concept in APAC. “

The new fleet management service is designed to handle a number of issues, including fleet strategy development, fleet policy, fleet processes and external benchmarking.

It will also include vehicle funding, looking at the cost benefits of leasing versus outright purchase, along with the sourcing of third party contracts such as car leasing and fuel cards.

The success of the new arrangement will be measured by return on investment, with targeted savings of 1:3 for all full-scope services in APAC countries.

Savings are expected to come from sourcing renegotiation and from regional fleet policy reviews. 

One of the key objectives of the new arrangement will be to optimize vehicle models to reduce Syngenta’s corporate carbon footprint while minimizing the impact on its drivers.

Chng said: “We have only just started our implementation process, but this has been quite smooth as Fleet Logistics has provided us with a dynamic, experienced and capable business development team to support us. 

“Fleet Logistics has very strong expertise in fleet and demonstrated this through the knowledge they shared with the APAC Syngenta procurement team. This is why we invited them to partner us in APAC as well as Europe. 

“For bigger companies, like Syngenta, taking a closer look at fleet cost is very significant, and outsourcing the fleet to a professional fleet management provider can help drive our efficiency.”

Fleet Logistics international sales director, Stuart Donnelly, said: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to expand our collaboration with Syngenta internationally, and the experience developed together to support the start of our global operations in Asia-Pacific is really exciting. This is a further step along the journey for Fleet Logistics in creating a truly global network for our customers.”

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