FedEx Ground reduces holiday demand projections

Unit ‘making adjustments’ with shippers

Trade group seeks no confidence vote on FedEx Ground CEO (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

FedEx Ground is adjusting downward its holiday traffic forecasts due to an increasingly pronounced slowdown in demand, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In a statement late Friday, the FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) ground delivery unit said that “weakening macroeconomic conditions are causing volume softness.” The unit said it is “collaborating with customers on their projected shipping needs and making adjustments as necessary” to ensure it can meet its delivery commitments. It did not provide any specific numbers.

The news of FedEx’s move was first reported by Reuters.

FedEx Ground, which encompasses its U.S. business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) ground delivery services, delivers the vast majority of the company’s U.S. volumes.

Last month, FedEx pre-announced its fiscal 2023 first-quarter results a week before officially releasing them. In the early release, it announced a massive decline in year-over-year operating income at its FedEx Express air and international unit. It also said FedEx Express revenue for the quarter would come in about $500 million less than originally projected. Company executives blamed much of the weakness on a sudden decline in demand out of Asia.

FedEx also suspended financial guidance for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends May 31, 2023.

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Mark Solomon

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.