- Shipping endurance race to support small businesses for peak
- Increases number of weekly flights to handle accelerated e-commerce
FedEx Express (FedEx) has expanded flight capacity across Asia-Pacific to handle unprecedented package volume during a peak holiday season “unlike any before”.
It has significantly increased the number of weekly flights across the Pacific compared to March 2020, with the FedEx Asia-Pacific air network operating at peak levels over the past six months.
FedEx has substantially increased Asia-to-Europe flights, as well as flights into Australia from Asia.
In addition to its more than 500,000 team members, FedEx expects to add 70,000 seasonal team members across the enterprise for peak season.
Said a spokesperson: “The rapid growth of e-commerce has driven significant shifts in demand over the past several years and will continue to drive volume during the 2020 holiday season.”
In Asia Pacific, online retail sales for 11 countries in the region are expected to grow from $1.5trn in 2019 to a total of $2.5trn in 2024.[1]
According to McKinsey & Company, the global pandemic has also sped up the adoption of digital customer interactions by as much as four years[2].
As consumers have moved dramatically to online channels, businesses have responded in turn, with Asia leading the way. The rate of creation of digital or digitally enhanced offerings in Asia has leapt forward ten years compared to a global average of seven years[3].
Kawal Preet, President, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) region, FedEx Express, said: “At FedEx, we are helping our customers to prepare and get ahead to help ensure their shipping and delivery needs are met and business continues to flow during one of the busiest times of the year.
“We’re calling this the Shipathon – a shipping endurance race. The growing importance of e-commerce means that SMEs can now move beyond local or domestic demand to reach new regional and international customers, growing revenue without the investment costs related to opening brick-and-mortar storefronts.
“This is where the real acceleration of business recovery can happen, and we’re actively working with merchants and small businesses to ensure they’re ready and have the right tools to give their customers more control over their deliveries.”
FedEx is also prepared to deliver the best possible service to customers in a challenging environment this peak season.
Added the spokesperson: “The FedEx Express Global Operations Control Center (GOCC) is the airline’s nerve center that is always open – 24/7/365. Hundreds of specialists globally coordinate the movement of millions of shipments by tracking thousands of flights and trucks every day.
“The team is well versed in implementing contingency plans to mitigate any potential delays caused by weather, mechanical issues, or traffic.
“The GOCC is also home to the FedEx weather team. FedEx has 15 full-time meteorologists on staff, making it the largest in-house meteorology department in the express cargo industry, and the second-largest staff among all US airlines.”
[1] SYNC Southeast Asia research, Facebook and Bain & Co. https://www.bain.com/insights/how-covid-19-is-changing-southeast-asias-consumers/
4 Subject to relevant terms and conditions.
