FedEx, UPS invest in e-commerce

FedEx and UPS are making aggressive investments in a bid to keep up with the explosive growth in online shopping.

This year UPS is adding 95,000 seasonal workers and adding a fee onto peak-season packages. It’s also putting new jumbo jets on cargo routes across the Pacific. 

UPS says it expects holiday-season deliveries will rise 5 percent to a record 750 million this year. UPS handled a 19 percent increase in daily export-related volumes in the third quarter, the third straight period with double-digit growth.

“I believe we’re well-positioned to have a successful peak season, both from a customer standpoint and investor standpoint,” UPS Chief Executive Officer David Abney said on a conference call with analysts Thursday. “And it’s coming quickly. We’ve been working a long time on this and I think there’s a lot of confidence throughout the group.”

Meanwhile FedEx just opened a new 800,000-square-foot ground distribution hub in Texas. The facility, located at 8787 W. Grand Parkway N., in Cypress, is the company’s largest ground hub in Texas. Steve Griffin, FedEx Ground’s vice president of operations for the Gulf Coast region, said the hub is a strategic move to boost the speed at which packages are processed and delivered. Packages will reach 83 percent of U.S. destinations within three days, he said.

Read more about the companies' holiday plans by clicking here.