FedEx Freight expands last mile delivery network

FedEx company earnings (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

FedEx Freight, the less-than-truckload (LTL) unit of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), said October 14 that it has expanded its last-mile delivery service for heavier weighted consignments. The service had been in pilot form until now.

The unit’s “basic” delivery product, which brings items to the consignee’s door and no further, is now available nationwide. The “standard” product, wherein drivers bring the shipment into the first point of entry of a residence, and the “premium” product, which involves carrying the shipment to the room of choice, unboxing the product and performing light assembly if necessary, are available in 80% of the territory comprising the lower 48 states, the unit said.

The FedEx unit had operated in 18 markets prior to the announcement, a company spokesperson said. The pilot program began in Dallas late last year. It expanded in early 2019 to four more markets. The expansion continued throughout the year.

The unit will use FedEx-branded vehicles and company drivers, according to the spokesperson. It is unclear what type of vehicles will be deployed for the operation.

The market for larger items ordered online is expected to approach $10 billion by the end of 2019, according to projections from consultancy ShipMatrix. Demand continues to grow as more retailers and manufacturers throw open most, if not all, of their inventory to e-commerce. The goods that FedEx Freight handles are typically not designed to run through the conveyor networks designed for parcels weighing up to 70 pounds.

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Formerly the Executive Editor at DC Velocity, Mark Solomon joined FreightWaves as Managing Editor of Freight Markets. Solomon began his journalistic career in 1982 at Traffic World magazine, ran his own public relations firm (Media Based Solutions) from 1994 to 2008, and has been at DC Velocity since then. Over the course of his career, Solomon has covered nearly the whole gamut of the transportation and logistics industry, including trucking, railroads, maritime, 3PLs, and regulatory issues. Solomon witnessed and narrated the rise of Amazon and XPO Logistics and the shift of the U.S. Postal Service from a mail-focused service to parcel, as well as the exponential, e-commerce-driven growth of warehouse square footage and omnichannel fulfillment.