Tag: Courier/Express/Parcels

At 1.30am on Wednesday, managers at FedEx’s main US package handling facility at Memphis airport faced a difficult decision in the middle of their busiest week of the year. Parcel sorting was supposed to finish for the night at 2.07am, leaving enough time to get items to their final destination anywhere in North America before lunchtime. But two inbound FedEx aircraft from California were running late, meaning their cargoes risked being stranded in Tennessee.

“We have to weigh up the cost of leaving those packages behind against the cost of holding up the whole operation to wait for them,” said Marla Waldheim, a systems administrator. “If the outbound aircraft are held back too long, some might miss their landing slots and then the delays start rippling through the system.”

FedEx, the package delivery giant, painted a rosy picture of the world economy yesterday when it announced a four-fold increase in second quarter net profits and increased its earnings guidance for the year.

Fred Smith, chairman and chief executive, reported “very strong momentum” across the company and said global and US economic conditions remained “favourable” as businesses replenished inventories and invested at a “healthy pace”.

Mr Smith said the Christmas retail season was looking strong with FedEx having handled 8.1m packages on its busiest day of the year last Monday – 1m more than last year and ahead of its 7.7m target. Rapid growth in e-commerce was among the factors behind FedEx’s strong performance as more people had goods delivered to their homes after ordering on the internet.