About TEA

TEA - St. John Logistics Pvt Ltd.,

Tirupur Exporters Association popularly known as TEA is an association at Tirupur, Tamilnadu, India comprising 541 Life members and 155 associate members and its members are exporting INR 8,000 crores worth of cotton knitwear garments annually. Mr. A. Sakthivel is President of the Association from the inception in 1990 and he is a leading exporter of knitted garments. He was Chairman of the Apex body for garment exports Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC.), New Delhi for two terms and currently he is holding the position as Chairman of FIEO (SR) and President of Indian Chamber of Commerce, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. He is also member in the various professional bodies like Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), New Delhi, etc., and Board of Trade, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India.

St. John Freight Systems Ltd., is a Tuticorin based logistics provider. The Company is headed by Mr. T. Johnson who has more than 27 years experience in the Logistics Industry. The Company has its Corporate cum Registered Office at Tuticorin with 22 branches / 35 offices in India and 4 Overseas Subsidiaries in Belgium, Singapore, UK and USA, employing more than 700 people and specialised in Supply Chain / End-to-End Service. St. John is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company, controlling over 45,000 TEUS of throughput as Forwarders / Custom House Agent. Recipient of “Niryat Shree” award recently from the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India and recipient of continuous awards from the Port and other agencies. The company has also a proposal to establish offices in China, Dubai and Germany this year.

TEA and St. John Freight Systems Ltd., have formed a Joint Venture Company in India of 50 : 50 ratio, in the name of TEA - St. JOHN LOGISTICS PRIVATE LIMITED and it was registered on 16th February, 2006. The new JV company having registered office in Tirupur and Administrative Office in Tuticorin will float a subsidiary company in Antwerp, Belgium shortly for warehousing and distribution of garments in Europe. The JV company will give one stop solution for end to end service with focus on Supply Chain for garment distribution at Antwerp, Belgium.

The Port of Antwerp is one of the most central port facilities on Europe’s North Sea, providing rapid goods transit to major European markets and industrial centres. It is linked directly into the European rail, road and waterway networks and holds a leading position in the European transport and logistics industries. The Port of Antwerp offers some 300 liner services providing some 14,000 sailings to more than 800 destinations both overseas and inland. The Port offers more than 5 million square metres of covered warehouse space.

TEA – St. John JVC will employ sales team in Antwerp. The JVC has committed to provide seamless supply chain solutions in Europe for Tirupur sellers and European buyers. This joint venture company is also planning to act as a trading house with exceptional logistics back-up advantages, which will add tremendous value to relationships with existing buyers and also help to forge new partnerships.

Presently, St. John – Antwerp have tied up with major Warehouse Operator in Antwerp for warehousing, distribution and outsourcing transportation locally.

St. John already have own subsidiary office in Antwerp in the name of St. John Freight Systems Belgium BVBA and serving many corporate clients in India and also in Europe for end to end service. This company will function as a trading house with exceptional logistics back-up advantages which will add tremendous value to existing relationships with our buyers and will also help to forge new partnerships.

In future, the JVC plans to have own retail shops / showroom in major cities in Europe and own warehouse in Antwerp. Further to success of this venture, similar joint venture subsidiary company could be started in UK and USA also.