Parcels

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The current state of the business relationship between Memphis-based freight transportation and logistics services provider FedEx and the United States Postal Service (USPS) received a fair amount of attention on the former’s fiscal second quarter earnings call late last year.

We canvassed a seasoned group of industry observers to record what happened this past year and what it means to our logistics and supply chain operations as we head into 2024. Here’s what they had to say.

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The new edition of the TD Cowen/AFS Freight Index, which was recently released by New York-based investment firm Cowen Inc. and Shreveport, La.-based 3PL and freight audit and payment company AFS Logistics LLC, highlighted mixed readings, as well as expectations, for truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), and parcel activity, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter.

The USPS cited various investments it has made, in advance of the 2023 Peak Season, including: hiring 10,000 seasonal employees; utilizing 348 new package sorting machines; increasing daily processing capacity to approximately 70 million; moving 95% of volume via more reliable ground transportation, for First Class Mail and more than 95% of First-Class packages; and its new USPS Ground Advantage Shipping Service

This follows its Texas-based expansion plan, which was rolled out in August 2022, with a focus on what it called the “fast-growing megaregion of Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, with the Dallas-Fort Worth facility to function as the major Texas-based sort hub, reaching 19 million new consumers through faster residential e-commerce delivery services.

Truck capacity across all modes is slowing because of slackening demand in both industry and retail freight, leading to murky forecasts for the rest of the year by leading freight analysts. Top freight officials throughout the trucking industry are bracing for a slowdown the second half of the year. Truck demand, buoyed last year by the recovery following the COVID shutdown, returns to a more normal level, they predict.

DHL eCommerce Solutions, a subsidiary of global logistics services provider Deutsche Post DHL Group, said it has relocated its Orlando, Fla, -based distribution center into a new space that is double the size of its previous location.

The company said it invested roughly $18 million into this new facility, which will be comprised of more than 125 full-time employees. And it added that a key driver for this facility is to meet growing demand in the Kansas City region and process more domestic volume and ship throughout the U.S.