FedEx announces rate increase for freight

By: The Associated Press

The Messenger 12.31.07

MEMPHIS (AP) — FedEx Corp. has announced a general rate increase of 5.5 percent for its FedEx Freight trucking division to take effect Jan. 14.
The Memphis-based shipping company noted a 6 percent drop in less-than-truckload shipments with FedEx Freight in second-quarter earnings report.
The demand for freight shipping is “severely restrained” by the weak national economy, the company said.
FedEx Corp.’s other shipping divisions, FedEx Express and FedEx Ground, will not be effected by the rate increase for FedEx Freight. Rate increases for them have already been announced.
In October, the company said a rate increase for FedEx Express is expected to average 4.9 percent, after figuring in a 2 percent reduction in fuel surcharge. Last month, the company announced a similar rate increase for FedEx Ground.
United Parcel Service, meanwhile, announced in November it was implementing an average rate increase of 4.9 percent for ground and air-express services and international shipments originating in the United States.
UPS said its rate change for air express and international shipments would be based on a 6.9 percent increase offset by a 2 percent cut in fuel surcharge.
FedEx National LTL, FedEx Corp.’s long-haul, less-than-truckload segment, will implement a similar rate change to the increase at FedEx Freight, the company said.
Those rate changes will apply to interstate and intrastate shipments as well as certain shipments between the U.S. and Mexico and Canada.
For the financial quarter ending Nov. 30, FedEx Freight reported revenues of $1.24 billion, a 1 percent increase over the same period the previous year. Operating income for the period fell 43 percent, however, largely due to a decline in less-than-truckload shipments, the company said

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