FedEx Sees 12.4% Increase In Holiday Shipments

(RTTNews) - Package delivery giant FedEx Corp. (FDX) on Monday projected that it will move a record-breaking 317 million shipments this holiday season, between Black Friday and Christmas Eve. The forecast marks a 12.4 percent increase in year-over-year seasonal volume.

The 2015 holiday season includes one more day than last year and is expected to be bolstered by three volume spikes, including Cyber Monday and the first two Mondays in December, in which FedEx expects to move more than double its average daily volume.

Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx has included the peak projections in its earnings guidance for fiscal 2016.

Frederick Smith, CEO of FedEx said, "The shift in consumer shopping patterns, fueled by the rise of e-commerce, continues to drive our volume. Our strategic investments, unmatched flexible global network, and more than 325,000 dedicated team members around the world are ready to help the holidays arrive again this year."

The National Retail Federation or NRF expects sales in November and December to grow 3.7 percent from last year to $630.5 billion. The NRF also predicts e-commerce sales will continue to grow at a faster rate than brick-and-mortar sales, rising between 6 percent to 8 percent to as much as $105 billion.

FedEx said it is gearing up for the holiday season by continuing its strategic investment in network growth and capacity. The company is investing $1.6 billion in FedEx Ground this fiscal year, most of which is for capacity and automation. This includes more than 160 major expansion projects.

As part of its fleet modernization, FedEx has added 30 more efficient aircraft over the past year. The company is also modernizing its ground fleet by adding over 7,000 new, fuel-efficient vehicles in fiscal years 2015 and 2016 combined.

FedEx is adding more than 55,000 positions throughout its network to help the holidays arrive this year. This includes package handlers, drivers and other support positions.

FDX closed Friday's trading at $159.52, down $0.20 or 0.13 percent on a volume of 2.26 million shares.