FedEx plans freighter service between India and China by Sept

Global express cargo carrier FedEx Express plans to introduce five weekly freighter services between India and China by September. This service would make Federal Express the only company from India offering a next-day service to China.

According to the Chairman and Managing Director for the Indian Sub-continent, Mr Jacques Creeten, the additional flights proposed to improve connectivity in Asia would be operated on the US-India-China-Japan route.

The service, which is being planned to tap the growing business opportunities in India and China, would also help FedEx double its volume, expand its network and add to its customers.

Making use of the hub-and-spoke operational network, the express carrier currently operates five weekly West-bound flights and a once-weekly East-bound flight from India.

While the West-bound flights are operated on the Philippines-India-Middle East-France-US route, the East-bound flight is operated on the US-France-India-Philippines sector.

Asked if FedEx was considering an entry into the domestic business, Mr Creeten said the express carrier was specialised in the international time-definite high-value cargo business. An entry into the domestic network would only make sense if the company saw synergies between its international and the domestic business.

“This synergy does not exist at the moment and we will need evidence before we make any decision on entering the domestic business,” he said.

The proposed take over of Blue Dart by DHL, its competitor in the global markets, would not impact FedEx, which was driven by global networks. He pointed out that FedEx was the single largest global cargo carrier accounting for 10.64 per cent of the global cargo.

“At the moment, the way international business is growing all our immediate investments would continue to be in growing our global business,” he said.

FedEx saw greater opportunity in the international business and the biggest investments by the company would continue to be in aircrafts and technology, he said.

The company’s technology investments would go to furthering technology support for inventory management as well as to enhance customer knowledge, he said.