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March 16 (Reuters) - FedEx Corp (FDX.N) on Thursday raised its fiscal 2023 profit forecast and reported progress on its plan to shave $3.7 billion in costs from its global delivery business, and its shares jumped 12%. Fedex has been wringing costs from its bloated operations by shuttering offices, cutting jobs, grounding airplanes and canceling profit-sapping Sunday deliveries in far-flung areas. On Thursday, FedEx forecast fiscal 2023 adjusted profit of $13.80 to $14.40 per share, up from its previous projection of $12.50 to $13.50. Adjusted income for the fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28 came in at $865 million, or $3.41 per share. At the close of the regular trading session on Thursday, FedEx shares were up about 18% year-to-date, versus the 8% gain in shares of more profitable rival United Parcel Service (UPS.N).

"We do not believe the optimism is yet justified," Morgan Stanley analyst Ravi Shanker wrote in a recent note. Those plans helped FedEx report better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results on Dec. 20, sparking a stock rally that offset a swoon in mid-September, when the company retracted financial forecasts issued just three months earlier and blamed a swift pullback by customers. Analysts are skeptical that FedEx can deliver a repeat performance in the fiscal third quarter that ended on Feb. 28, as demand from e-commerce and other sectors remains soft. He expects FedEx to report adjusted earnings of $2.52 per share for the quarter - about 20 cents less than analysts' average estimate complied by Refinitiv IBES. Reporting by Kannaki Deka in Bengaluru and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill BerkrotOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

REUTERS/Andrew Winning/File PhotoWASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - Engineering company Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE) will announce on Tuesday it is investing over $220 million to build a rail car manufacturing facility in North Carolina, the White House and Siemens said. Busch said Siemens has a "strong foothold" in the market and sees longer term growth opportunities in high-speed rail. Siemens' rail unit will be receiving a jobs development grant from the state of North Carolina, the company said. Funding comes in part from the bipartisan infrastructure law passed in 2021, the White House said. The $1 trillion infrastructure law provides $66 billion for rail, an unprecedented boost in federal aid for trains.

☆ VinFast delivers first 45 cars in US market
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] VinFast electric vehicles are parked before delivery to their first customers at a store in Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 1, 2023. REUTERS/Lisa BaertleinMarch 2 (Reuters) - Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast delivered its first 45 cars to customers in California on Wednesday, its first sales outside Vietnam. Last week, the company slashed the lease price on the VF8 electric crossover by 50%. It also dropped an option for consumers to rent the electric car's battery, a plan it had advertised as a way to bring down the cost of ownership. Andrew and Nikki Le, who ordered 11 VinFast cars, took delivery of the first of those at the store.

☆ U.S. retailers' ocean shipping price woes ending as new delays threaten
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Lisa Baertlein | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONG BEACH, Calif., Feb 27 (Reuters) - Collapsing ocean shipping rates are not all good news for U.S. retailers, who paid as much as $20,000 to move a container of goods during the worst pandemic disruptions, as they now are bracing for delays due to plummeting demand. dolls to the short-term spot market from the long-term contract market. Volatile spot rates were the first to plummet when pandemic-weary consumers shifted spending from goods to travel and entertainment. Previously loyal customers are aggressively comparison- shopping, spreading their business around and gambling on the spot market, experts said. This time around, importer and exporter shipping managers, whose costs exploded when they were unexpectedly forced into the sky-high spot market, have the upper hand.

☆ Norfolk Southern CEO apologizes to Ohio townspeople, vows to 'do what's right'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Shaw sat down with people from the town of 4,700 people for the CNN event, repeatedly apologizing and saying, "We're going to do what's right for the community." U.S. and Ohio environmental regulators and the company hired experts who say testing shows the water and air are safe. Norfolk Southern reported net profit of $3.27 billion in 2022 when it paid nearly $1.2 billion in dividends to shareholders and bought back $3.1 billion worth of shares. Insurance will help offset those costs, including a liability policy that will cover up to $1.1 billion in certain situations. Stewart said he was planning to sell his house so he could retire but now his property value had plummeted.

☆ Norfolk Southern wants to 'make things right' after Ohio train crash, CFO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Norfolk Southern (NSC.N) will take responsibility for cleaning up the environmental damage from this month's train derailment and controlled detonation of hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio, its finance chief said on Wednesday. "We take responsibility ... We're fully dedicated to making things right," George said at an investor conference hosted by Barclays. Norfolk Southern will quantify costs of the clean up no later than its first-quarter earnings, he said. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has said it would release a preliminary report on its initial findings on Thursday into the derailment. He will be joined by representatives from the Federal Railroad Administration and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

☆ Norfolk Southern takes responsibility for Ohio crash environment cleanup, CFO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"We take responsibility ... We're fully dedicated to making things right," Mark George, Norfolk Southern's (NSC.N) chief financial officer, said at an investor conference hosted by Barclays. A day earlier, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered Norfolk Southern to "pay for cleaning up the mess" created by toxic chemicals that spewed into the air, water and soil after the accident. Norfolk Southern plans to quantify related costs no later than its first-quarter earnings. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) plans to release a preliminary report on Thursday on its initial findings into the fiery crash. He will be joined by representatives from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

☆ UPS's Coyote freight brokerage lays off workers as demand falls
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LOS ANGELES, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Coyote Logistics, United Parcel Service's (UPS.N) nonunion freight brokerage subsidiary, on Friday said it was laying off workers as rising interest rates, inflation and a resumption of pre-pandemic consumer spending patterns weaken demand for trucking services. A Feb. 16 report from transportation news provider FreightWaves said 200 jobs would be eliminated. That demand slowed when restaurant dining reopened, travel resumed and global economies started flashing recession warnings, and now those same companies are slashing jobs. UPS is also cut union jobs in its mainstay delivery service. Affected unionized workers with seniority have the option of leaving the company or taking a different role, which could mean that employees with less seniority lose their positions.

[1/3] Drone footage shows the freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, U.S., February 6, 2023 in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released by the NTSB. NTSBGov/Handout via REUTERSFeb 14 (Reuters) - Cleanup is moving quickly after a train carrying toxic materials derailed in Ohio 11 days ago, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said on Tuesday, while residents and observers questioned the health impacts of pollution that spilled into the Ohio River. Officials said the volume of the river diluted the plume and the plume did not pose a serious threat. UNION WARNINGSRailroad union officials said they have been warning that such an accident could happen because railroad cost-cutting harmed safety measures. "No one wants to listen until we have a town blown off the face of the earth, then people listen," said Whitaker, whose union is the largest U.S. railroad union representing conductors, engineers and other workers.

☆ UPS cutting back on some jobs as Teamster labor talks loom
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Lisa Baertlein | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

With the move, UPS joins rival FedEx (FDX.N) and other major transportation companies in trimming jobs as the early pandemic's e-commerce shipping boom fizzles. But the stakes are higher at UPS, which is preparing for the largest North American private sector union contract negotiations later this year that will pit the world's largest package delivery firm against the powerful Teamsters union. The contract covering roughly 350,000 Teamsters-represented drivers, loaders, package sorters and other UPS workers expires on July 31. "This is not nationwide, but only in select parts of the country, in response to uneven demand," UPS said. According to the UPS labor contract, reassigned full-time workers could opt to leave or take another job.

☆ FedEx to cut senior jobs as part of larger staff reduction
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Lisa Baertlein | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

FedEx did not say how many positions would be affected by the new layoffs. In mid-September, FedEx pulled its profit forecast and shares swooned more than 20% - the largest single-day drop in the company's 50-year history. But those numbers only tell part of the story because they exclude roughly FedEx 6,000 contractors and their workers, who handle most of the FedEx Ground's home delivery business. FedEx already has temporarily furloughed workers at its trucking division FedEx Freight as the pandemic-fueled e-commerce delivery bubble deflates and recession threatens, joining transportation-focused companies ranging from delivery upstart Amazon.com (AMZN.O) and trucking company C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW.O) to freight broker Uber Freight and freight forwarding startup Flexport in announcing layoffs.

☆ UPS beats profit view on high-margin deliveries, boosts shareholder returns
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A United Parcel Service (UPS) vehicle reverses into a facility in Queens, New York City, U.S., May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File PhotoJan 31 (Reuters) - United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N) on Tuesday beat expectations for quarterly adjusted profit, as it prioritized shipments of high-margin parcels and kept a tight lid on costs amid a softening e-commerce environment. UPS reported an adjusted profit of $3.62 per share for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, above Wall Street's expectations of $3.59 per share. UPS forecast 2023 full-year revenue between $97.0 billion and $99.4 billion, compared with analysts' expectations of $99.98 billion, as per Refinitiv data. Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles And Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini GanguliOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Uber Freight laying off 150, about 3% of workforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Jan 24 (Reuters) - Uber Freight said Tuesday it will lay off roughly 150 employees, or about 3% of its workforce, as economic uncertainty hammers demand for shipping services. The division of rideshare company Uber Technologies (UBER.N) said the layoffs will be limited to its digital brokerage operations that match shippers with truckers seeking to haul cargo. With the move, Uber Freight joins trucking firm C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW.O), freight forwarding startup Flexport, and financial services and technology firms in shedding jobs this year. Reporting Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru and Lisa Baertlein in Los AngelesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. imports of containerized goods retreat to pre-pandemic level
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LOS ANGELES, Jan 10 (Reuters) - U.S. imports of goods in ocean shipping containers in December fell to levels approaching those last seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report said on Tuesday. December 2022 U.S. container import volume topped 1.9 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), according to Descartes Systems Group. Then, the pandemic spawned an unexpected container cargo surge that overwhelmed seaports and upended global supply chains. Despite the sharp volume downturn in December, 2022 is shaping to be the second-busiest year after 2021 for U.S. container imports. Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Analysis: Some ocean shipping rates collapsing, but real price relief is months away
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Lisa Baertlein | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

They're not interested in playing the (spot) market" by shopping for lower rates, shipping expert John McCown said. The chief executive of container shipping company Ocean Network Express, Jeremy Nixon, said in December that short-term spot rates were "bottoming out." Meanwhile, long-term contract rates finished 2022 about 20% lower than the pandemic peak of more than $8,000 per container, according to maritime consultancy Drewry, which expects contract rates to halve in 2023. Several factors could support longer-term contract rates, including upheaval from China's COVID outbreak, war in Ukraine, and high labor costs. Steve Schult, vice president for almond farming cooperative Blue Diamond Growers, bets contract rates will not revisit pre-COVID levels.

☆ Biden tax credits aim to jolt electric delivery truck demand
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Lisa Baertlein | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The first-of-its-kind incentives, established under President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), will offer tax credits of $7,500 or $40,000 depending on the size of the electric vehicle (EV). The IRA's commercial EV credits do not have "made in the USA" rules that apply to passenger cars. That will "help level the playing field for electric vehicles," said Ben King, associate director at Rhodium Group, a research firm. Jim Farley, chief executive at electric van market leader Ford Motor Co (F.N), this year predicted that IRA tax credits would have a "dramatic impact on the adoption of EVs." More commercial EV purchases should lower manufacturing costs and vehicle sticker prices - which should attract even more buyers, experts said.

☆ U.S. deep freeze forecast to break Christmas Eve records
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Rich Mckay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Dec 24 (Reuters) - An arctic blast that has gripped much of the United States this week, disrupting daily life and holiday travel for millions of Americans, was expected to produce the coldest Christmas Eve on record in several cities from Pennsylvania to Florida. Temperatures are forecast to top out on Friday at just 8 degrees Fahrenheit (-13 Celsius) in Pittsburgh, the largest city in western Pennsylvania, surpassing its previous all-time coldest Christmas Eve high of 13 F, set in 1983, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The capital cities of Florida and Georgia - Tallahassee and Atlanta - were likewise expected to record their coldest daytime Christmas Eve high temperatures, while Washington, D.C., was forecast to experience its chilliest Dec. 24 since 1906. Extreme winter weather was blamed for at least five deaths on Friday. The NWS said its map of existing or impending meteorological hazards "depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever."

As the storm took shape over the Great Lakes on Thursday, a weather phenomenon known as a bomb cyclone was likely to develop from a "rapidly deepening low-pressure" system, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The cyclone could spawn snowfalls of a half inch (1.25 cm) per hour and howling winds from the Upper Midwest to the interior Northeast, producing near-zero visibility, the weather service said. "It's dangerous and threatening," President Joe Biden said at the White House, urging Americans with travel plans to not delay and to set off on Thursday. Hundreds of Texans died in February 2021 after the state's power grid failed amid wintry storms, leaving millions without electricity. Greg Carbin, chief of forecast operations at the NWS Weather Prediction Center in Maryland, said freezing or below-freezing cold would bisect central Florida, with temperatures about 25 degrees below normal.

☆ FedEx, other shippers warn extreme weather will delay some U.S. holiday gift deliveries
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 23 (Reuters) - A severe winter storm gripping most of the United States threatens to delay millions of last-minute Christmas gift deliveries due to shutdowns at major shipping hubs. FedEx (FDX.N), United Parcel Service (UPS.N), the U.S. Postal Service and Amazon.com (AMZN.O) alerted customers that severe weather was disrupting key operations in Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, the Dakotas and other areas hard-hit by strong winds, bitter cold and blizzards. UPS and FedEx told Reuters they have contingency plans in place if severe weather shuts or idles cargo planes and delivery trucks. As a result, shipping companies have ample capacity to handle this year's holiday delivery surge, Jindel said.

With the deep freeze stretching from Montana to Texas as it crept eastward, some 240 million people - more than two-thirds of the U.S. population - were under winter weather warnings and advisories on Friday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The map of existing or impending wintry hazards "depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever," the NWS said. [1/5] A driver makes their way through a flooded street at high tide during a winter storm in Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S., December 23, 2022. Their plight has added to local agencies scrambling to get people off the streets as the arctic blast arrived. While some areas downwind from the Great Lakes received a foot or more of snow on Friday, "the big story wasn't so much the falling snow but the blowing snow," weather service meteorologist Brian Hurley said.

☆ Deep freeze grips U.S. as winter 'bomb cyclone' looms ahead of holiday weekend
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Numbing cold intensified by high winds was expected to extend as far south as the U.S.-Mexico border. The NWS map of existing or impending wintry hazards, stretching from border to border and coast to coast, "depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever," the agency said. The bomb cyclone could unleash snowfalls of a half inch (1.25 cm) per hour driven by gale-force winds, cutting visibility to near zero, the weather service said. Power outages were expected from high winds, heavy snow and ice, as well as the strain of higher-than-usual energy demands. The weather service said relief from the deep freeze was in sight for the northern Rockies and High Plains, where the arctic blast first materialized on Thursday.

☆ FedEx cost cuts stanch losses, analysts see need for more
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Shares in FedEx rose 4.7% to $172 at midday Wednesday, a level far below their 52-week high of $266.79. FedEx has been underperforming its unionized rival United Parcel Service (UPS.N), which is squeezing greater profit from its leaner, more streamlined operating structure. FedEx has outlined plans to integrate its disparate businesses, revive its long-troubled Europe operations and appease activist investor D.E. On Tuesday, FedEx issued a new 2023 profit forecast, signaling that it may be "finding the floor," Susquehanna analyst Bascome Majors said. Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Cynthia OstermanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ FedEx promises more aggressive cost cuts, shares rise
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 20 (Reuters) - FedEx Corp (FDX.N) announced an additional $1 billion in cost cuts after quarterly profit dropped sharply in the latest quarter, when softer-than-expected demand outpaced the delivery giant's efforts to shelter profits by slashing costs. Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx said adjusted profit fell to $815 million, or $3.18 per share, from $1.3 billion, or $4.83 per share, for the fiscal second quarter ended Nov. 30 compared to the same period a year previous. Per-share earnings beat analysts' estimates by 36 cents per share, according to Refinitiv I/B/E/S Estimates, while revenue came in $22.8 billion - below their target of $23.74 billion. With the expense reductions, FedEx now expects fiscal 2023 cost savings of $3.7 billion. Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los AngelesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Dec 20 (Reuters) - FedEx Corp (FDX.N) will slash an additional $1 billion in costs as recession threatens and the COVID-19 pandemic demand bubble deflates, the delivery company said on Tuesday. Shares rose 3.7% to $170.48 in extended trading after Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx also reported a bigger fiscal second-quarter profit than Wall street expected. The global delivery company angered investors and analysts in September when it yanked its forecast, triggering the biggest one-day stock drop in company history. FedEx warned in November that U.S. volume in the year-end quarter was below company projections as the pandemic-driven e-commerce bubble deflated. On Tuesday, FedEx said second-quarter adjusted profit fell to $815 million, or $3.18 per share, from $1.3 billion, or $4.83 per share, a year earlier.

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