FedEx anticipates record holiday volumes

December 12 looks to be a pretty busy day for FedEx. The transportation bellwether said this week it expects to move more than 17 million shipments through its global networks on that day.

If this type of activity occurs, it would represent roughly a ten percent gain over December 13, 2010, when the company moved 15.6 million shipments and it would mark the single busiest day in the company’s history since it began tracking this data in 2005.

Company officials said this gain will be driven by FedEx Smart Post, its “last mile” delivery service partnership with the United States Postal Service, which is primarily spurred by e-commerce, and expected volume increases for FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery.

They added that between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the company is forecasting more than 260 million shipments to be moved through its global shipping networks, a 12 percent annual increase over last year, which hit roughly 232 million shipments.

“As e-commerce continues to grow and demand increases with more customers shopping and conducting their business online, FedEx SmartPost is poised to handle the increase in shipments,” said Frederick W. Smith, chairman, president and CEO of FedEx Corp., in a statement. “More than 290,000 FedEx team members also stand ready to deliver the holidays and enable commerce around the globe.”

Company officials also cited recent data from the National Retail Federation (NRF) which noted that holiday sales are expected to increase 2.8 percent during November and December to $465.6 billion, marking a higher increase than the 2.6 average over the last ten years.