UPS readies for record holiday shipment volumes

The parcel carrier expects to handle more than 630 million packages between Black Friday, Nov. 27, and New Year’s Eve, an increase of more than 10 percent over seasonal volumes in 2014.    UPS is preparing to move more than 630 million packages between Black Friday, Nov. 27, and New Year’s Eve, an increase of more than 10 percent over 2014 volumes and a record for the holiday season, according to a statement from the company.
   The parcel carrier and logistics carrier’s archrival, FedEx Corp., made a similar announcement earlier this week.
   UPS attributed the increase in expected volumes to the addition of an extra day of shopping and consumers’ preference for e-commerce over traditional in-store methods.
   Because Christmas falls on a Friday this year, UPS is projecting high daily residential delivery volumes throughout the preceding week. The company expects to make a record number of deliveries to residential addresses during the peak holiday period, up to 60 percent of all package deliveries compared with an average of 45 percent on a full-year basis.
   “Consumer preference for online commerce is driving tremendous growth opportunities for UPS,” Chief Commercial Officer Alan Gershenhorn said in a statement. “Our integrated air and ground delivery network, extensive status and visibility systems and a broad portfolio of shipping solutions position UPS to best manage increasing demand driven by online commerce.
   “Beyond new processing facilities, automation and routing technology to increase capacity, we’ve implemented easy-to-use mobile and web-based technology that helps consumers to track progress and customize their delivery so they can plan when and where they receive packages,” he added.
   UPS completed its $1.8 billion acquisition of non-asset based logistics provider Coyote Logistics in August, establishing itself as a leader in the truckload transportation market just in time to handle the extra holiday volumes. Integrating with Coyote has allowed UPS to further leverage industry-leading technology to arrange contract transportation and increase back haul utilization during the busy peak season.
   “UPS has dedicated people around the world that are ready to ensure e-commerce, multichannel and traditional shoppers are served on time during the holidays,” said Gershenhorn. “We are ready to help our customers take full advantage of the holiday season.”
   The company said previously it will hire up to 95,000 additional temporary workers, primarily package handlers, drivers and driver-helpers, during the holiday season.
   Last week, UPS advised customers to “plan ahead” for the holiday shopping peak between Nov. 27 and Dec. 24, and released a detailed schedule of its services during this period.