Couriers Deliver Delayed Packages
United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp., the two top package delivery services, were clearing a backlog of Christmas shipments Monday, delayed by a winter storm that slowed work at their biggest U.S. air cargo sorting facilities.
Diana Hatcher, United Parcel’s spokeswoman, and Traci Barnett at FedEx couldn’t say how many packages were delayed by the storm that hit United Parcel’s Louisville, Ky., air hub and FedEx’s Memphis, Tenn., facility three days before Christmas. Hatcher said “a majority” of shipments would arrive Monday. Barnett didn’t provide a date for completing deliveries.
The storm dumped 5 inches of snow on Louisville and brought freezing rain to Memphis on Dec. 22, a day after United Parcel processed 10 million air packages, the peak of the holiday season. Below-freezing temperatures led to icy highways, complicating deliveries.
“The storm affected the last-minute shoppers,” said Scott Blevins, a spokesman for Overstocks.com Inc. of Salt Lake City, who estimated a few thousand of more than 1 million shipments of jewelry, books and other items were delayed.
Neither Atlanta-based UPS nor Memphis-based FedEx estimated the financial effect. UPS and FedEx didn’t deliver packages Christmas Day or Sunday.
“We were fortunate to process nearly all of our orders before the storm hit,” said Craig Berman, a spokesman for Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc., the biggest Internet retailer. He didn’t have a total of delayed shipments.
FedEx’s busiest shipping day was Dec. 20, Barnett said. Hundreds of workers volunteered during the weekend to reduce the backlog, she said. United Parcel extended operations in Louisville and sought to reroute packages around the storm, Hatcher said, without giving details. United Parcel hopes to complete holiday deliveries today, she said.
“We did have delays,” Barnett said. “They could be hours or days, depending on the location.”
FedEx shares fell 95 cents to $97.81 and have jumped 45% this year. United Parcel shares declined $1.40 to $85.28 and have climbed 14% this year. Both trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
