Q&A: FedEx Trade Networks President Patrick Moebel

Late last year, FedEx Logistics, a subsidiary of global freight transportation and logistics services provider FedEx, said its FedEx Trade Networks unit, which provides air and ocean freight forwarding, customs brokerage, and value-added services, was integrating the WiseTech Global’s CargoWise digital platform into its global ocean and air transportation network.

LM Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently caught up with FedEx Trade Networks President Patrick Moebel to learn more about this integration with WiseTech and other aspects of the global supply chain and logistics sectors, which follows below.

Moebel joined FedEx Logistics in January 2021, coming into this role with more than 30 years of experience in the brokerage, supply chain, and transportation industries and having successfully transformed sizable forwarding and brokerage businesses on a country, regional, and global level. A native of Basel, Switzerland, Moebel’s lineage comes from a logistics background, with both his father and grandfather having spent their careers in the freight forwarding sector.

LM: What drove the decision to integrate with CargoWise?

Moebel: The CargoWise digital platform helps to enhance the services we provide, allows for scalable growth and adds to the value our dedicated team members already bring to customers. It was designed by freight forwarders for freight forwarders. The platform will give the FedEx Logistics global network end-to-end visibility into the movement of shipments in real time.

CargoWise provides a single, easy-to-use, modern platform for complex logistics transactions and freight management, enabling digital development with improved data integration, automation, and ability to scale — all leading to a better customer experience. Visibility of the export performance of major ports in mainland China can, for example, help in the allocation of containers to meet the needs of global customers. The CargoWise integration is part of our never-ending journey to strengthen our value proposition and to innovate digitally.

LM: What are some things shippers need to be doing and need to focus on, in order to successfully deal with the ongoing supply chain disruptions and issues? How are things like the White House's Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force able to help?

Moebel: We encourage our customers to remain flexible to all possible ocean port calls, multiple ocean carrier options, various container sizes, and alternative inland modes. Additionally, we provide air freight capacity for more urgent shipments.

We also continue to look for innovative solutions. One example we are offering our customers is the option of 53-foot containers on charter vessels to alternative ports. This will help cut down on costs and get their goods where they need to go more quickly. Additionally, FedEx has enhanced our national fleet of surface and drayage providers, including an expanded dedicated chassis pool in southern California. In addition to traditional inland rail, together with FedEx Freight [the less-than-truckload unit of FedEx], we have developed a trans-load solution on the West Coast providing expedited inventory movement.

As you mentioned, our work to provide solutions to stabilize supply chain disruptions includes participation in the White House Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force focused on solutions for port congestion. While visiting the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, we met with the port officials, trucking carriers and others. It was clear that connectivity between terminals, customers, truckers, and railways is critical. We have begun to collaborate with these stakeholders on a few key integrated solutions. There are some positive signs as “sweeper vessels” remove empty containers from the terminals to free up space and help solve the container-shortage situation. Greater data exchange between the terminal and BCOs allows BCOs with free dwell time to advise terminals on which containers will dwell longer so they get stacked separately.

Since the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach announced consideration of a “container dwell fee” on Oct. 25 last year, major importers have been motivated to prioritize long-dwelling containers on the terminals. The policy would charge ocean carriers for every container scheduled to be moved by truck dwelling nine days or more and those scheduled to be moved by rail dwelling for six days or more. On Jan. 10, the ports announced aging cargo on the docks had declined by 45%.

LM: How do you think Peak Season went in terms of operations and service?

Moebel: COVID-19 had a disruptive impact to labor availability, industry capacity, and global supply chains. While the global economy is rebounding from the pandemic, particularly as vaccination rates rise, we’re seeing significant changes in buying behaviors and a lack of available capacity across the transportation industry. The world is experiencing supply chain whiplash, especially within the ocean container side of the equation.

We are proud of our 600,000 team members who worked tirelessly to deliver the best possible service this holiday season.  As we move into to a new world of expanded e-commerce, FedEx will continue to develop innovative solutions to meet the demand.

As I’ve mentioned, we are collaborating with various stakeholders to help alleviate port congestion and increase shipping container movement at U.S. West Coast ports. FedEx added more capacity across our networks so we could be an ally to our customers, especially small businesses that power the global economy.

We’ve taken bold action to hire and invest in our frontline team members. We’ve added targeted pay premiums, special incentives, and we’ve increased tuition reimbursement, among other things, to help recruit and retain team members.

LM: What do you think are some of the biggest “lessons learned” from the pandemic are?

Moebel: First, I would say the importance of strong leadership and fast decision making. We always keep team members top of mind in everything we do, through safety protocols and constant communication. We have shared challenges, adjusted to the unexpected, and continued to enforce safety procedures. These steps enabled us to provide capacity and keep essential supply chains running.

Second, we’ve also learned about the importance of dynamic solutions for customers. We noticed that many of our customers needed high-level consultation to maintain compliance in the complex and ever-changing trade environment. To satisfy this demand, we created FedEx Trade Solutions, a set of holistic trade compliance products, solutions, and services. Launched in July, these solutions can be tailored for the customer, helping them to save money, become more efficient, and navigate regulatory compliance. We provide customers with unique and bundled solutions, including advisory solutions, managed solutions, managed trade compliance, and trade consulting. We increase convenience by offering all services in-house at FedEx Logistics.

Third, we have all witnessed the importance of global supply chains. This is true not only for global commerce but also for delivery of vaccines. It’s not every day that you help save the world, but that’s what happened in December 2020, as thousands of FedEx team members received, sorted, loaded, and delivered the first vaccines to help fight COVID-19. We just celebrated the one-year anniversary. Over the past year, we’ve delivered hundreds of millions of vaccine doses in the U.S. and to more than 50 countries and territories. We spent years building our network for a time like this and it makes us thankful that we did.

Finally, we learned that e-commerce will continue to grow. FedEx has prepared for years for the growth of e-commerce. When the virus spread, service providers closed and many consumers spent more and more money online. E-commerce flourished. COVID-19 accelerated digital commerce and e-commerce growth significantly. Pre-COVID, FedEx projected that the U.S. domestic market would reach 100 million packages per day by calendar year 2026. The market is now expected to hit that by calendar year 2022, with e-commerce contributing to 88% of the total market growth.