New FedEx Express service addresses AMEA shippers’ cross-border commerce demand

Earlier this week, FedEx Express, the global, time-definite delivery service unit and largest subsidiary of Memphis-based global transportation and logistics power FedEx, formally rolled out a new service geared towards shippers in the AMEA (Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa) region.

Entitled FedEx International Priority, company officials said that this service provides AMEA shippers with the flexibility to schedule delivery by 10:30 AM to select global destinations. And FedEx added that with FedEx International Priority, the company now provides a wider range of time-definite international shipping options for customers.

What’s more, FedEx explained that AMEA-based customers are now able to select the delivery option that best meets their needs, including:

• the newly launched FedEx International Priority Express (IPE) service provides AMEA customers with delivery by 10:30 or noon to select markets* in Asia (Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Australia), United States, Canada and Europe;
• FedEx International First offers AMEA customers the option for early-day delivery to select postal codes and destinations* in the United States, Canada and Europe; and
• FedEx International Priority (IP) offers end of the day delivery to more than 220 countries and territories around the globe

FedEx noted that a major driver for this new service is a major component of the company’s push to support businesses in tandem with heavy cross-border commerce demand. That is underscored by the $3.9 trillion Asia Pacific logistics market set to expand at a 6% compound annual growth rate between 2020-2025, with the Middle East and Africa pegged to hit $315 billion, at a 4% compound annual growth rate by 2027.

Salil Chari, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Customer Experience, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa (AMEA), FedEx Express, provided LM with some additional details about this new service.

LM: What drove the need for FedEx Express to roll out FedEx IPE? How long had it been planned/in the works?

Chari: The global time-definite delivery market was valued at over US$137 billion before COVID-19, and the pandemic further accelerated need as more and more businesses want to mitigate uncertainties in their supply chain. Express logistics plays a critical role in facilitating time-sensitive cross-border commerce, and we’re always developing new services to address our customers’ changing needs. Plans for adding to our time-definite delivery solution portfolio have been in place since before the pandemic, as we see demand from businesses for more delivery windows for trackable, time-definite international solutions. As economies begin to recover, our new time-definite international priority solution, FedEx International Priority Express (IPE), available in select markets, will provide businesses with more delivery options and greater control for their time-sensitive international shipments.

LM: What are the main benefits of this offering for FedEx customers? What does it provide, or offer up, that was missing or needed?

Chari: Addressing customers’ needs is at the heart of everything we do at FedEx. Our customers want to have more choices and greater flexibility in their international shipping. For example, noon deliveries allow businesses the opportunity to receive and process components from different parts of the world and ship out the finished goods to the end-customer on the same day, delivering greater efficiency for customers with time-sensitive needs. With FedEx International Priority® Express (IPE) businesses across the Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa (AMEA) region now have additional delivery windows early in the day, and the ability to choose deliveries either by 10:30am or noon to select markets in Asia, including Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand, the United States, Canada and Europe.

LM: What are the main competitive advantages of this new service from a FedEx perspective?

Chari: FedEx was founded on the concept of providing time-definite delivery services nearly 50 years ago, and we’ve built a suite of international priority time-definite delivery solutions to address customers’ needs. The introduction of IPE complements our existing product portfolio of FedEx International First that offers AMEA customers the option for early-day delivery to major worldwide destinations and FedEx International Priority, which provides end of the business day delivery worldwide.

Adding FedEx International Priority Express fills a new delivery window in the business day. Now businesses have much more choice of delivery options throughout the day from 8:00 am, 10:30 am, noon to the end of the day while improving our competitiveness in the market. Looking ahead, we’ll be extending the noon delivery option to more destinations where the current delivery is by the end of the day.

Global imports and exports of goods touched $5.6 trillion in the third quarter of 2021 thanks to a strong recovery in demand, and our enhanced portfolio of time-definite cross-border delivery options gives businesses across the AMEA region the right delivery option that suits their needs, and ultimately greater convenience and flexibility.