FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) is aiming at shipping an additional 100 million packages in the holiday season, in a move to capitalize on growing e-commerce during the pandemic. To achieve this feat, the company increased its sorting capacity by 14.4 million square feet.
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Busy Time
As reported by CBS News, FedEx will be relishing the holiday season as the growth of e-commerce could mean shipping 100 million packages more. The company recently forecast a year of record holiday deliveries as carriers have added capacity.
For package handler Kyles Hawkins, “This is peak season. Our shift usually lasts about six to seven hours depending on our flights. Sometimes we can get out early, but now that it’s peak we’re here long days.”
Bobby Willis, vice president of operations for the Pacific Region, said the company needs “anywhere between 30 and 40 minutes” to fill a Boeing 767 with packages. Despite the holiday season being a very busy one, “We can do it pretty fast,” he said —aircraft never take off empty or half-full at this time of year.
Besides consumer goods and other items, vaccines will represent a significant shipment quota, according to operations manager Steve Hornstra. He says the company was very proud of being part of that mission a year ago.
“Those shipments come in and we’re saving lives, right? We’re saving lives. Potentially millions of people with those 290 million vaccines that are coming through our system that we’ve delivered. That to me, that’s incredible.”
Aiming At Efficiency
While finishing preparations for the holiday season, Ryan Kelly, vice president of global e-commerce at FedEx told CNBC: “We’ve seen a lot of people actually starting their Christmas shopping in the month of October, which is fundamentally different than we have seen traditionally in the past.”
“What you see is a lot of messaging about shop and ship early, pulling sales forward, pulling promotions forward. A lot of retailers have really leaned into that this year,” he added.
ShipMatrix data reveals FedEx delivered almost 96% of packages on time last October —compared with 99% for UPS and 99% for the U.S Postal Service. Anything above 95% can be considered efficient.
FedEx is part of the Entrepreneur Index, which tracks 60 of the largest publicly traded companies managed by their founders or their founders’ families.
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