TNT France Tracking

TNT France is a business-to-business express network whose French domestic traffic runs on its own national system, separate from the FedEx tools that carry its international shipments, and it moves more than 400,000 parcels a day inside France. TNT France tracking ends somewhere no other French carrier's does: a missed delivery is diverted to one of 4,200 partner shops rather than to a post office, and TNT states that 85% of the French population lives within 5 km of one. The domestic offer is built around business addresses, with timed handover before 08:00, 09:00, 10:00 or 13:00 and a strict 30 kg ceiling per parcel, while Economy Express takes pallets up to 7,000 kg. Corsica is served from two agencies, in Ajaccio and Bastia.

TNT France Tracking Runs on Three Separate Trackers

A 16-digit TNT France number does not resolve on fedex.com in July 2026, ten years after FedEx closed its 4.4 billion euro purchase of TNT Express on 25 May 2016. France ended up with three live tracking tools rather than one, and picking the wrong one is the most common reason a valid number returns nothing.

The domestic tracker is tnt.fr, the legacy French system, and it is the only place a French national shipment resolves. Its own search form states the rule that governs everything else on this page:

"Le bon de transport est de 16 chiffres au national et de 9 chiffres à l'international." (TNT France, tnt.fr parcel tracking form, 2026. In English: the transport document number is 16 digits domestically and 9 digits internationally.)

The international tracker is the TNT Track and Trace tool on tnt.com, which takes the 9-digit consignment number used across TNT's European network. The third tool is fedex.com, which takes the 12-digit FedEx Express air waybill and nothing else. A shipment booked under the FedEx brand is not visible on either TNT tool, and a TNT consignment is not visible on FedEx's.

The TNT brand itself has been in supervised retirement in France since 2018, without ever being switched off. TNT France's own announcement dates the change precisely:

"Depuis le 1er septembre 2018, la marque TNT évolue en France... Cette évolution n'a pas d'impact sur les contacts habituels, les services de nos clients et partenaires commerciaux." (TNT France, corporate news, 2018. In English: since 1 September 2018 the TNT brand has been evolving in France; the change does not affect customers' usual contacts or services.)

Eight years on, the practical position is unchanged: the tnt.fr header now reads "expéditions nationales TNT de FedEx Express FR", the intellectual property notice in its footer names FedEx, and the tracker keeps working. The same brand survival happened in TNT Australia, though the split there is two-way rather than three-way, because Australia never had a separate French-style domestic numbering system to preserve.

TNT France Tracking Number Format

The identifier TNT France uses is the bon de transport, the domestic waybill, abbreviated BT and often simply called the tracking number. Domestic French shipments carry 16 numeric digits with no letters and no spaces, and TNT's own worked example is 1876458213295487. International shipments booked in France carry a 9-digit consignment number instead, in the form 946907500, and some international consignments appear in the older TNT pattern of two letters, nine digits and a two-letter suffix, such as GD503655955WW.

Neither number is an air waybill. FedEx-branded shipments out of France use a 12-digit FedEx Express air waybill, which is a different identifier issued by a different system, and the two are not interchangeable.

TNT France also lets shippers search by référence interne, the sender's own reference, rather than by BT. That search is not self-contained: the domestic tool requires the destination department number alongside the reference, and the reference is case sensitive. TNT's international tracking help adds that a consignment number is "pas forcément unique", meaning a 9-digit number can occasionally surface a shipment that is not the one being looked for.

Where to Find TNT France Tracking Number

The bon de transport is printed by the shipper, not by the recipient, so it reaches the recipient through the sender's paperwork rather than through TNT.

• The dispatch confirmation email sent by the merchant or shipper at the moment of collection.
• The transport label stuck to the parcel, where the BT is the long numeric string.
• The avis de passage (the missed-delivery notice) left after a failed delivery attempt.
• The TNT invoice, on the left-hand side roughly 3 cm below the customer number.
• The order or account page of the online shop that shipped the goods.

An order number issued by a shop is not a bon de transport and will not resolve on any TNT tool. A merchant that supplies only an order reference has not yet released the BT, and the recipient has to ask for it. Searching by référence interne on tnt.fr instead of by BT additionally requires the two-digit department number of the delivery address.

TNT France Tracking Number Example

Four identifier formats circulate around French TNT and FedEx shipments, and each one resolves on exactly one tool.

The prefix on an older GD-style consignment is a legacy TNT routing artefact and does not reliably indicate the service level, so it should not be read as a product code.

TNT France Tracking Status Guide

TNT France writes its domestic tracking events in French on tnt.fr and its international events in English on tnt.com, so one parcel can produce two vocabularies depending on which tool it is looked up in. The ten domestic labels below are the ones the French tracker returns.

Why TNT France Tracking Is Not Updating or Not Working

Most reports of TNT France tracking not updating, not working, or being down resolve into one of seven situations, and only the last is a genuine delay.

The number is on the wrong tracker. This is the France-specific trap. A 16-digit BT entered into the Track and Trace tool on tnt.com is rejected, because that tool expects 9 digits; a 9-digit international consignment entered on tnt.fr returns nothing for the mirror-image reason. A 12-digit FedEx air waybill resolves on neither. Count the digits first, then choose the tool.

The label exists but nothing has been scanned. A BT goes live the moment the shipper prints it, which can be days before the parcel is handed over. Until the first pickup scan the tracker shows Attente and no events at all. Nothing on TNT's side is broken.

The search is by internal reference without the department number. The tnt.fr domestic tool will not run a référence interne search without the destination department, and the reference is case sensitive. Either omission produces an empty result that looks like a failed lookup.

The parcel is in transit between stations. French domestic express runs overnight, so a parcel collected in the late afternoon typically produces its next scan the following morning. A quiet 12-hour to 18-hour window on En cours d'acheminement is the normal shape of a J+1 service, not a stall.

The address failed. Problème d'adresse freezes the parcel until someone supplies a door code, an intercom name, or a corrected street. TNT's tracker offers a redelivery link on this status, and the parcel does not move again until it is used.

The parcel is sitting at a partner shop. Colis en instance and Mise à disposition both mean the parcel has left the delivery round and is waiting for collection. The tracking page stops producing events because nothing is happening to the parcel, and the hold clock expires into Retour expéditeur.

The shipment is genuinely late. Where the last scan is more than two working days old and none of the above applies, the sender is the party to contact first: the contract of carriage is between the shipper and TNT, and only the shipper can open a trace on a domestic French consignment.

Express and Economy Services Compared

TNT France sells two families of tracked service, Express and Economy Express, and the domestic weight ceiling is a strict 30 kg per parcel against 210 kg to 7,000 kg on the international equivalents.

The domestic timed tiers are being thinned out. TNT France's service pages state that 8:00 Express and 9:00 Express stop being available on 5 October 2026, with those shipments moving to 10:00 Express. That withdrawal narrows the French timed-delivery ladder to 10:00, 13:00 and same-day-window Express, closer to the ladder offered by domestic rivals such as DPD. The service specifications are published on TNT France's Express services page.

Delivery and Transit Times

The baseline for a French domestic Express consignment is next working day before 13:00, with early afternoon quoted for rural communes rather than a fixed hour. The figures below are TNT's own published commitments and should be read as estimates, not guarantees; they exclude collection cut-offs, customs where it applies, and public holidays.

Failed Deliveries and Collection at a Partner Shop

A missed TNT France delivery does not go to a post office. It goes to one of 4,200 partner shops, and TNT states that 85% of the French population lives within 5 km of one. That is the structural difference between TNT France and the post-office model Colissimo recipients know, and it is why a French recipient hunting for a TNT parcel at their post office finds nothing.

The avis de passage left by the driver names the partner shop. Where the parcel was diverted on the day, TNT says it can be collected the same day from early afternoon, on production of the avis de passage and photo identification. Someone other than the addressee can collect it with those two documents.

The hold window is the one figure TNT France publishes inconsistently. Its tracking FAQ on tnt.fr gives 5 consecutive working days at a partner merchant and 5 calendar days at a TNT agency, while its recipient-facing page on tnt.com says 8 days. The avis de passage carries the binding date for the individual parcel, and it is the document to trust.

Rather than collecting, the recipient can reschedule. The redelivery tool accepts a new delivery date at the same address up to 5 days after the original delivery date, subject to the parcel's status. Evening and Saturday consumer redelivery of the kind Chronopost builds its retail proposition on is not part of the standard TNT France domestic offer, which is designed around business addresses.

Damage Reserves and Loss Claims Under French Transport Law

French law, not TNT policy, decides whether a damage claim survives, and it gives the consignee three days. Under article L133-3 of the Code de commerce (Commercial Code), accepting the goods extinguishes any action against the carrier for damage or partial loss unless the consignee sends a reasoned protest by registered letter or bailiff's act within three days of receipt, public holidays excluded. The article expressly does not apply to international carriage.

The decisive moment is therefore the doorstep, not the claim form. TNT France's own claims guidance is that "des réserves précises, écrites et motivées doivent être formulées par ce dernier sur le bon de livraison en présence du chauffeur": precise, written and reasoned reserves must be entered on the delivery note in the driver's presence. A clean signature with no reserves starts the three-day clock in the worst possible position.

Claims are filed with the litigation team at fr-litiges-tnt@fedex.com, and formal registered correspondence goes to FedEx Express FR SAS, 58 avenue Leclerc, CS 17237, 69354 Lyon cedex 07. Total loss of the goods, as distinct from damage or partial loss, is not caught by the three-day bar, so a parcel that never arrives at all is not time-barred on the same schedule.

Which Countries Does TNT France Deliver To?

TNT France international tracking reaches more than 200 countries and territories, moving on the FedEx Express intra-European air network whose principal hub is Paris Roissy-Charles de Gaulle. Domestically, the French station network is being reshaped: FedEx announced on 23 January 2026 that it would cut its French footprint from 103 stations to 86.

"L'entreprise envisage de redimensionner son maillage territorial, en passant de 103 à 86 stations." (FedEx, newsroom announcement, 23 January 2026. In English: the company plans to resize its territorial network, going from 103 to 86 stations.)

The same plan attaches a 78 million euro investment, puts up to 500 operational posts at risk, envisages contract changes for up to 800 employees, and forecasts more than 770 new positions created by the reorganisation. It follows the European integration announced on 19 January 2021, when FedEx opened consultations on 5,500 to 6,300 job reductions across Europe over an eighteen-month period as the TNT and FedEx networks were merged.

Coverage in practice groups as follows.

• Domestic France: the whole of metropolitan France, from 86 stations once the 2026 plan completes, plus Corsica through the Ajaccio and Bastia agencies.
• Western Europe: Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Luxembourg and Switzerland, on next-day timed Express or 2 to 3 day Economy Express.
• Central and Eastern Europe: Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Romania and the Baltic states.
• Overseas France: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, Guyane and Mayotte, with Guadeloupe quoted at 2 to 5 days by air, sea or road freight.
• Rest of the world: more than 200 countries, among them the United States, Canada, China, Japan, Australia and the Gulf states, on 4 to 7 day Economy Express or timed Express.

Customs Between Metropolitan France, Corsica and the Overseas Departments

A domestic French TNT parcel never clears customs, and neither does a parcel to Germany or Spain, because all of them move inside the EU customs union. A tracking page for a Paris to Lyon or Paris to Milan consignment that appears to be held in customs has been misread: there is no clearance stage in the event list at all. Corsica sits inside the French VAT territory as well, so a mainland-to-Corsica parcel carries no customs declaration either.

The overseas departments are the exception, and a real one. Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, Guyane and Mayotte are inside the EU customs union but outside its VAT territory, and French customs treats them as export territories relative to metropolitan France. A parcel from Paris to Pointe-à-Pitre therefore needs a customs declaration and a commercial invoice, exactly as though it were leaving the European Union.

Three charges can land on the recipient there. Octroi de mer, the dock dues levied by the overseas collectivities, is assessed on the customs value and sits outside the VAT base. Octroi de mer régional is added on top. Local VAT then applies at a standard 8.5% and a reduced 2.1% in Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion, while VAT is currently not applicable in Guyane and Mayotte. Guadeloupe and Martinique form a single fiscal territory, so goods moving between those two islands are treated differently again. The rules are published by the Direction générale des douanes et droits indirects.

On genuinely international lanes, a TNT France consignment stays on the same 9-digit number end to end inside the FedEx Express network, so it keeps updating after the parcel leaves France rather than being handed to a destination post and reissued under a new identifier.

Marketplace Collaborations

TNT France runs a dedicated offer for online merchants that guarantees delivery to a partner shop within 24 hours of dispatch, with email or SMS notification once the parcel is ready, built on the same 4,200-merchant network that catches failed home deliveries. The carrier is a business-to-business express operator by origin, so most marketplace parcels reach it indirectly, through the shipping platforms that resell its labels.

Packlink resells three TNT products in France, TNT Express, TNT Economy Express and TNT Express Import, and connects to Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, Etsy, Shopify, PrestaShop, WooCommerce and Magento. Sendcloud, which supports outbound shipping from France among eight European countries, offers a comparable route from a merchant's store to a TNT label. A marketplace seller dispatching from a French warehouse can therefore hand a buyer a 16-digit bon de transport even though TNT never appears as a named carrier option at the marketplace checkout.

For the buyer the consequence is procedural: a marketplace order number is not a tracking number and will never resolve on tnt.fr. The BT arrives in the seller's dispatch email, and it is that 16-digit string, not the order reference, that the French tracker accepts.

About TNT France

TNT France's domestic network was not built by TNT. It was built by Jet Services, founded in France in 1973 to move parcels under 30 kg by light vehicle, and by 1995 the largest private French express operator for small parcels. When TNT Post Group agreed to buy it in December 1998 for 2 billion francs, Jet Services ran 120 depots in Europe, 94 of them in France, employed 2,850 people and handled around 350,000 express shipments a day for 35,000 customers. TNT Express France was formally constituted in 2001, and the 16-digit bon de transport still in use today is a survivor of that French system.

FedEx acquired TNT Express N.V. on 25 May 2016 for 4.4 billion euro and has been folding the two networks together ever since. The French entity now trades as FedEx Express FR SAS, based at 58 avenue Leclerc in Lyon, and the intellectual property notice on tnt.fr names FedEx as the owner. The intra-European air network was consolidated under FedEx with Roissy-Charles de Gaulle as its principal hub, and the transformation plan announced on 23 January 2026 will take the French station count to 86.

What has not happened is the retirement of the tracking system. Ten years after the acquisition and eight years after the transitional branding began, a French domestic consignment is still a 16-digit bon de transport, it still resolves on tnt.fr and nowhere else, and TNT France still moves more than 400,000 parcels a day across the country.