Mark Solomon joined DC VELOCITY as senior editor in August 2008, and was promoted to his current position on January 1, 2015. He has spent more than 30 years in the transportation, logistics and supply chain management fields as a journalist and public relations professional. From 1989 to 1994, he worked in Washington as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, covering the aviation and trucking industries, the Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, he worked for Traffic World for seven years in a similar role. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Solomon ran Media-Based Solutions, a public relations firm based in Atlanta. He graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.
How badly did FedEx Corp. stock get beaten up during the global equities sell-off of Sept. 22?
So badly that David G. Ross, analyst for Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., wrote in a research note that traders and investors didn't just sell FedEx shares. The market, in his words, "continued to puke the stock."
Ross' depiction was as accurate as it was vivid. The Memphis-based giant announced before the U.S. market opened last Thursday that its fiscal first quarter results had come in slightly below the company's expectations. This announcement compelled some traders, speculators, and investors to begin selling the company's stock in droves the minute they heard the opening bell. At one point during the trading day, FedEx stock had fallen to $64.55, a decline of almost $8 a share from the prior day's close. At the close of Sept. 22, the stock had settled at $66.58. The stock is now more than $30 a share below its 52-week high of $98.33 set on July 7.
The reason why Fedex stock was hammered on Sept. 22 was the surprisingly subpar performance of the company's air express division, which represents close to 60 percent of FedEx's revenue and is seen as a proxy for U.S. and global economic activity. Domestic express volumes fell 3 percent year-over-year, while the company's "international priority" business—which accounts for nearly one-third of all of FedEx's revenue—contracted by 4 percent due to a slowdown of airfreight volumes out of Asia. The sequential (quarter over quarter) decline of 8.4 percent in international volumes was the biggest such drop in at least 10 years, according to Jon A. Langenfeld, analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co.
The weakness in FedEx's international air business reflects a continued deterioration in global airfreight volumes. Langenfeld said in a research note that industry contacts have noted persistent weakness in Asian air export volumes with declines continuing into September, which is the first month of FedEx's fiscal second quarter.
Gary Schultheis, senior vice president, airfreight Americas for DHL Global Forwarding, the world's largest airfreight forwarder, echoes those comments. "We have not seen any major increase in tonnage out of Asia," he said. "As a result, we question whether there will be a peak [shipping] season or not. If there is one, it will be very short."
not all bad news
While the market was fixated on FedEx's disappointing air express numbers, they chose to ignore what were solid results from its other operating units. The company's ground parcel unit reported a 16-percent increase in revenue, with volumes up 5 percent and yields—driven by a stronger parcel-pricing environment—up 9 percent. FedEx Freight, the company's less-than-truckload division, reported a 5-percent revenue increase, with yields up 11 percent on a 7-percent drop in volumes as the unit continued to shed unprofitable or marginally profitable business.
Ross, the Stifel, Nicolaus analyst, said the Thursday selloff reflected the market's "disbelief" in the company's revised earnings-per-share targets for its 2012 fiscal year. In spite of the air freight division's recent performance, Fedex has reduced its original projections for 2012 by only 1.5 percent from those it made in June.
Unlike the market, Ross seems to agree with Fedex's reassessment. He said Stifel, Nicolaus sees "this period of market turmoil as a good time to take or increase a position in a global growth company that is gaining market share, with good management and strong pricing." Ross set a 12-month price target of $111 on FedEx shares.
William Greene, lead transportation analyst for Morgan Stanley & Co., said investors reacted negatively, believing that the company's full year earnings-per-share results will be at the low end of expectations. But Greene said FedEx management is betting on a re-acceleration of volumes in the second half of its fiscal year after what will likely be a second fiscal quarter as sluggish as the first.
Greene said investors should remain cautious over the near term as the macroeconomic environment bottoms out. However, he said that FedEx's stock price already reflects a conservative outlook for the business and that an expected improvement in international business should help boost the company's valuation.
Langenfeld of Robert W. Baird also advanced a bullish outlook, saying improved domestic parcel demand and pricing trends, combined with rising barriers to entry in the global express industry, outweigh near-term concerns about industry and macroeconomic weakness.
Noting that global air cargo volumes should rise by 5 percent to 6 percent a year over the long term, Langenfeld said FedEx should benefit from companies' continued push for globalization and market demand for sophisticated integrated logistics offerings supported by a strong information technology network.
States across the Southeast woke up today to find that the immediate weather impacts from Hurricane Helene are done, but the impacts to people, businesses, and the supply chain continue to be a major headache, according to Everstream Analytics.
The primary problem is the collection of massive power outages caused by the storm’s punishing winds and rainfall, now affecting some 2 million customers across the Southeast region of the U.S.
One organization working to rush help to affected regions since the storm hit Florida’s western coast on Thursday night is the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). As it does after most serious storms, the group continues to marshal donated resources from supply chain service providers in order to store, stage, and deliver help where it’s needed.
Support for recovery efforts is coming from a massive injection of federal aid, since the White House declared states of emergency last week for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Affected states are also supporting the rush of materials to needed zones by suspending transportation requirement such as certain licensing agreements, fuel taxes, weight restrictions, and hours of service caps, ALAN said.
E-commerce activity remains robust, but a growing number of consumers are reintegrating physical stores into their shopping journeys in 2024, emphasizing the need for retailers to focus on omnichannel business strategies. That’s according to an e-commerce study from Ryder System, Inc., released this week.
Ryder surveyed more than 1,300 consumers for its 2024 E-Commerce Consumer Study and found that 61% of consumers shop in-store “because they enjoy the experience,” a 21% increase compared to results from Ryder’s 2023 survey on the same subject. The current survey also found that 35% shop in-store because they don’t want to wait for online orders in the mail (up 4% from last year), and 15% say they shop in-store to avoid package theft (up 8% from last year).
“Retail and e-commerce continue to evolve,” Jeff Wolpov, Ryder’s senior vice president of e-commerce, said in a statement announcing the survey’s findings. “The emergence of e-commerce and growth of omnichannel fulfillment, particularly over the past four years, has altered consumer expectations and behavior dramatically and will continue to do so as time and technology allow.
“This latest study demonstrates that, while consumers maintain a robust
appetite for e-commerce, they are simultaneously embracing in-person shopping, presenting an impetus for merchants to refine their omnichannel strategies.”
Other findings include:
• Apparel and cosmetics shoppers show growing attraction to buying in-store. When purchasing apparel and cosmetics, shoppers are more inclined to make purchases in a physical location than they were last year, according to Ryder. Forty-one percent of shoppers who buy cosmetics said they prefer to do so either in a brand’s physical retail location or a department/convenience store (+9%). As for apparel shoppers, 54% said they prefer to buy clothing in those same brick-and-mortar locations (+9%).
• More customers prefer returning online purchases in physical stores. Fifty-five percent of shoppers (+15%) now say they would rather return online purchases in-store–the first time since early 2020 the preference to Buy Online Return In-Store (BORIS) has outweighed returning via mail, according to the survey. Forty percent of shoppers said they often make additional purchases when picking up or returning online purchases in-store (+2%).
• Consumers are extremely reliant on mobile devices when shopping in-store. This year’s survey reveals that 77% of consumers search for items on their mobile devices while in a store, Ryder said. Sixty-nine percent said they compare prices with items in nearby stores, 58% check availability at other stores, 31% want to learn more about a product, and 17% want to see other items frequently purchased with a product they’re considering.
Ryder said the findings also underscore the importance of investing in technology solutions that allow companies to provide customers with flexible purchasing options.
“Omnichannel strength is not a fad; it is a strategic necessity for e-commerce and retail businesses to stay competitive and achieve sustainable success in 2024 and beyond,” Wolpov also said. “The findings from this year’s study underscore what we know our customers are experiencing, which is the positive impact of integrating supply chain technology solutions across their sales channels, enabling them to provide their customers with flexible, convenient options to personalize their experience and heighten customer satisfaction.”
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Two European companies are among the most recent firms to put autonomous last-mile delivery to the test with a project in Bern, Switzerland, that debuted this month.
Swiss transportation and logistics company Planzer has teamed up with fellow Swiss firm Loxo, which develops autonomous driving software solutions, for a two-year pilot project in which a Loxo-equipped, Planzer parcel delivery van will handle last-mile logistics in Bern’s city center.
The project coincides with Swiss regulations on autonomous driving that are expected to take effect next spring.
Referred to as “Planzer–Dynamic Micro-Hub w LOXO,” the project aims to address both sustainability issues and traffic congestion in urban areas.
The delivery vehicle, a Volkswagen ID. Buzz battery-electric minivan, will feature Loxo’s Level 4 Digital Driver navigation software, a highly automated solution that allows driverless operation. The van was retrofitted to include space for two swap boxes for parcel storage.
During the two-year pilot phase, Loxo’s Digital Driver will navigate a commercial vehicle several times a day from Planzer’s railway center to various logistics points in Bern's city center. There, the parcels will be reloaded onto small electric vehicles and delivered to end customers by Planzer’s parcel delivery staff.
Following the completion of the pilot phase, Planzer and Loxo will build on the program for rollout in other Swiss cities, the companies said.
The partners said the project addresses the increasing requirements of urban supply chains and aims to ensure the “scalability of their disruptive solution.” With largely emission-free delivery, it contributes to greater levels of sustainability for the city as a living space, they also said.
“The uniqueness of this project lies in the fact that it will have a direct impact on society,” Planzer’s CEO and Chairman Nils Planzer said in a statement announcing the project. “We didn't just want to integrate automated technology into existing systems, we wanted to develop a completely new concept and a new business model.”
As the hours tick down toward a “seemingly imminent” strike by East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers, experts are warning that the impacts of that move would mushroom well-beyond the actual strike locations, causing prevalent shipping delays, container ship congestion, port congestion on West coast ports, and stranded freight.
However, a strike now seems “nearly unavoidable,” as no bargaining sessions are scheduled prior to the September 30 contract expiration between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) in their negotiations over wages and automation, according to the transportation law firm Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary.
The facilities affected would include some 45,000 port workers at 36 locations, including high-volume U.S. ports from Boston, New York / New Jersey, and Norfolk, to Savannah and Charleston, and down to New Orleans and Houston. With such widespread geography, a strike would likely lead to congestion from diverted traffic, as well as knock-on effects include the potential risk of increased freight rates and costly charges such as demurrage, detention, per diem, and dwell time fees on containers that may be slowed due to the congestion, according to an analysis by another transportation and logistics sector law firm, Benesch.
The weight of those combined blows means that many companies are already planning ways to minimize damage and recover quickly from the event. According to Scopelitis’ advice, mitigation measures could include: preparing for congestion on West coast ports, taking advantage of intermodal ground transportation where possible, looking for alternatives including air transport when necessary for urgent delivery, delaying shipping from East and Gulf coast ports until after the strike, and budgeting for increased freight and container fees.
Additional advice on softening the blow of a potential coastwide strike came from John Donigian, senior director of supply chain strategy at Moody’s. In a statement, he named six supply chain strategies for companies to consider: expedite certain shipments, reallocate existing inventory strategically, lock in alternative capacity with trucking and rail providers , communicate transparently with stakeholders to set realistic expectations for delivery timelines, shift sourcing to regional suppliers if possible, and utilize drop shipping to maintain sales.