FedEx Corp. and the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation today kicked off their annual Trees for Troops program in Columbus, Ohio, with the pickup of 300 trees to be delivered to activated service members and their families stationed overseas.
In the coming weeks, tree growers, retailers and FedEx Corp. will be donating and delivering approximately 20,000 trees to more than 35 bases in the United States and overseas.
Read MoreThe U.S.-based logistics giant FedEx plans to start operation of its Asia-Pacific delivery center it is currently building within Guangzhou’s Baiyun Airport by yearend 2008, Guangzhou municipal government sources said.
The FedEx delivery center project, with a total investment of 2.5 billion yuan, takes an area of 2,843 mu and is expected to become a super large delivery center covering over 30 Asia-Pacific countries.
The project is expected to add about 1 million ton/year of cargo turnover for the Baiyun airport within the first year of operation.
FedEx predicts that its AP delivery center will churn out 11 billion US dollars in revenue by 2010 and 65 billion US dollars by 2020.
Construction of the project started in early 2006.
Read MoreFedEx expects 11.3 million packages to move through its FedEx Express and FedEx Ground networks on Dec 17, compared with an average daily volume of 7 million packages, the company said in a press release.
Last year, FedEx predicted 9.8 million packages would pass through its network on its peak day.
Spokesman Howard Clabo said last year’s figure did not include FedEx SmartPost packages — a lower cost service in which packages are dropped off at the nearest post office and then taken the last few miles to customers by the U.S. Postal Service.
Excluding SmartPost packages from this year’s prediction, the comparable forecast would be 10.4 million, a gain of 6.1 percent.
UPS spokesman Norman Black said the Atlanta-based company expects package volumes in its network to reach 22 million on its peak day on Dec. 19.
On average day the world’s largest package delivery company moves around 15 million packages through its network.
Company officials said in early 2007 that during the 2006 peak season the company moved more than 22 million packages on three separate days.
Both companies have warned recently that slowing U.S. economic growth will have an impact on their business.
In September FedEx reported a 4 percent increase in fiscal first-quarter profit but warned that slower growth would act as a drag on earnings in coming quarters.
In a conference call with analysts last week after it also posted a 4 percent increase in quarterly net profit, UPS officials said the company still expects package growth in the crucial fourth quarter but added that growth would be slower than in the past four years.
As in previous years, online retail sales are expected to be a boost for both package delivery companies.
Retail consultant TNS Retail Forward predicted in September that fourth-quarter online sales this year would grow 20 percent to USD 42 billion from USD 35 billion in 2006.
Overall retail sales should grow by just 3.3 percent as the credit crunch is expected to hurt consumer confidence, TNS Retail Forward said.
Read MoreThis is one mail courier companies would be praying is returned to the sender. A Cabinet note circulated by the department of posts has mooted 49 pct cap on FDI in courier business.
If the proposal goes through, multinationals like Fedex, DHL, UPS and TNT who hold more than 49 pct in Indian ventures will have to pare stake. The draft of the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill has another whammy in store for the private sector.
It proposes to make letters, parcels and packets weighing up to 150 gm the exclusive preserve of India Post. Private players will have to charge 2.5 times the tariff specified by Speed Post to operate in this segment.
The proposal to amend the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Act has been revived despite opposition from other government departments and the courier industry. A source said posts secretary I M G Khan has sent a communication on the proposed changes to department of industrial policy & promotion (Dipp) secretary Ajay Shankar.
The proposals specify that a person eligible to seek registration for operating in the mail sector has to be a company in which not less than 51 pct of the paid-up share capital is held by the citizens of India.
The draft Bill has been sent to the Cabinet and, once approved, the government can introduce the Bill in Parliament, source added.
The private courier companies had vehemently opposed the amendments earlier too. “In an era of free economy, if the country is embracing any legislation of such nature, it would send a wrong image internationally and it would also wipe out a vibrant part of our economy,” EICI had said in a communication to telecom minister A Raja.
Read MoreFor the tenth consecutive year, FedEx Corp. expects to break company volume records when an unprecedented 11.3 million packages move through the FedEx Express and FedEx Ground global networks on December 17, 2007. On an average day, more than
7 million packages move through the FedEx systems.
Other FedEx projections for this holiday season include:
• FedEx Ground projects it will handle its highest package volume ever on Monday, December 10, 2007, when it expects to move more than 7 million packages.
• December 17, 2007, is expected to be FedEx Express busiest night with nearly 5 million packages moving through the network.
• FedEx international markets including the United Kingdom, China, India and Canada also will see their busiest day on Dec. 17, 2007 when they collectively process nearly 350,000 FedEx Express domestic international shipments.
• FedEx Kinkos also will see its busiest night on December 17, 2007, when 345,000 FedEx Express and FedEx Ground packages are projected to move through the FedEx Kinkos channel.This is a 12 percent increase over last years busiest day for FedEx Kinkos.
• FedEx SmartPost expects its busiest day will be December 3, 2007 with 1.9 million shipments moving through the network.
• The award winning fedex.com Web site is expected to break records as well this holiday season, processing an average of almost 6.5 million online tracking requests per day during the peak month of December. On average, fedex.com processes 3.5 million online tracking requests per day. On the highest single day in December, we expect 8 million online tracking requests.
Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.
