FedEx faces challenges over global trade slowdown, rising energy prices

CHICAGO (Xinhua) - As FedEx celebrates its 40th anniversary in April, the world's leading delivery services giant is facing many challenges in an uncertain global economy, a senior company executive said.

With the slowdown of world trade, economic problems in Europe and Asia, and the U.S. low economic growth, FedEx's bottom line continued to be threatened, according to Richard Smith, managing director of the FedEx Express.

On top of that, the cost increase of energy posed another challenge, he added.

"Energy has dramatically changed the economy of moving goods," Smith told Xinhua.

In its latest quarter report released in March, FedEx's profit was down by 31 percent, though its revenue was up by 11 percent.

Smith said it indicated that businesses were more cost conscious and many had shifted from express mail services, which are more profitable for the company, to slower and economical deliveries.

FedEx had taken initiatives to improve overall fuel efficiency, including increasing the size of its alternative vehicle fleet, transforming from diesel to natural gas-fueled trucks, and pursuing other advanced technology, he said.

FedEx developed from a regional company to a world leading corporation after it moved from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Memphis, Tennessee, in April 1973.