MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - FedEx Corp. announced a general rate increase of 5.5 percent Wednesday for its FedEx Freight trucking division.
The demand for freight shipping is 'severely restrained' by the weak national economy, the company said, noting the 6 percent drop in less-than-truckload shipments with FedEx Freight from a second-quarter earnings report last week.
The rate hike for freight trucking, to take effect Jan. 14, follows increases at the shipper's other divisions, FedEx Express and FedEx Ground.
In October, the Memphis-based company said a rate increase for FedEx Express is expected to average 4.9 percent, after figuring in a 2 percent reduction in fuel surcharges. The company announced a similar rate increase for FedEx Ground last month.
United Parcel Service, meanwhile, announced in November that it was implementing an average rate increase of 4.9 percent for ground and air-express services and international shipments originating in the United States.
UPS said its rate change for air express and international shipments would be based on a 6.9 percent increase offset by a 2 percent cut in fuel surcharge.
FedEx National LTL, FedEx Corp.'s long-haul, less-than-truckload segment, will implement a similar rate change to the increase at FedEx Freight, the company said.
Those rate changes will apply to interstate and intrastate shipments as well as certain shipments between the U.S. and Mexico and Canada.
For the financial quarter ending Nov. 30, FedEx Freight reported revenues of $1.24 billion, a 1 percent increase over the same period the previous year. Operating income for the period fell 43 percent, however, largely due to a decline in less-than-truckload shipments, the company said.
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