With the goal of reaching carbon neutral operations by 2040, FedEx Corp. has an ambitious plan to modernize its fleet of aircraft as well as transition its pickup, delivery and last-mile fleets to electric vehicles. 

And while some of these efforts were delayed by the COVID pandemic, in its 2022 environment, social and governance report (ESG), FedEx has recommitted itself to achieving that goal. 

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“In April 2021, FedEx became the first North American transportation and logistics company to issue a sustainability bond, introducing a direct way for the investor community to support our carbon neutral operations goal,” FedEx founder and CEO Fred Smith wrote in a letter attached to the report. 

“We are also working with strategic partners such as the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture and BrightDrop, a new business from General Motors,” Smith wrote. “We know this collaboration is key to identifying sustainable technologies that can be scaled for the benefit of both FedEx and the entire transportation industry.”

Aircraft modernization 

Starting with 14 planes in 1973, FedEx now has nearly 700 planes, one of the largest aircraft fleets in the world. With its 2040 carbon neutral goal in mind, FedEx says it is working to modernize this fleet.

“We are committed to modernizing our aircraft fleet to reduce costs, enhance reliability and operational adaptability, improve fuel efficiency, and reduce emissions,” the ESG report states. 

While FedEx has been working on these modernization efforts for a couple of years, the Memphis-based company says the pandemic and related shipping demands prolonged the timeline. 

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“A global increase in shipping volume, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, delayed the retirement of certain older aircraft and led us to fall short of our goal,” according to the report. “In 2021, we continued to experience unprecedented demand for our express delivery services due to the ongoing pandemic and increase in e-commerce volumes, rivaling our peak holiday season traffic.”

Despite the setback, FedEx retired its MD-10 fleet in 2021, and it is expected to stop using its MD-10-30 fleet by the end of 2022. 

First introduced by American Airlines in 1971, the DC-10 is a three-engine jet manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, which merged with Boeing in 1997. The MD-10 is an updated version of that aircraft, which added a glass cockpit to the original design. 

The MD-10-30 is a long-range variant of the DC-10, all of which became popular with FedEx throughout the years. 

Observers have suspected, since the outset of the pandemic and resulting increase in cargo demand, that the company would have to eventually add a significant number of units to its aircraft fleet, raising questions as to whether it would stick with Boeing or order from Airbus. 

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In 2021, Airbus launched the A350 Freighter, which has been seen as a direct competitor to Boeing. 

Despite increasing options, FedEx appears to be sticking with Boeing, announcing plans to deploy an additional 12 Boeing 777F aircraft between 2022 and 2025.

“Similarly, we took delivery of 16 Boeing 767F aircraft in FY21, and plan to deploy an additional 50 B767F aircraft between FY22 and FY25,” the report states.

Additionally, FedEx plans to introduce 50 Cessna SkyCourier 408 cargo aircraft, starting in 2022, to help reduce the number of planes needed per feeder route and to improve fuel efficiency.

Launched in 2017, the Cessna SkyCourier 408 is a utility aircraft designed and built by Textron Aviation. FedEx was Cessna’s first customer.

BrightDrop 

BrightDrop, a subsidiary of General Motors, was created in 2021 to offer a system of connected products targeting first- and last-mile delivery customers.

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By December 2021, FedEx had received BrightDrop’s first shipments of the Zevo 600, BrightDrop’s electric Light Commercial Vehicles. 

FedEx is working on a plan to add up to 20,000 more units from BrightDrop, according to the ESG report. 

FedEx is also working with BrightDrop to employ more automation in its deliveries. 

“Through our relationship with BrightDrop, we have also introduced electric pallets, which, in a pilot, allowed couriers to handle 25% more packages per day when used on routes in a high-density, vertical urban environment,” the report reads. 

Most recently, FedEx and BrightDrop worked together to set the Guinness World Record title for greatest distance traveled by an electric van on a single charge. 

Driving the Zevo 600, formerly known as the BrightDrop EV600, Stephen Marlin completed the nearly 260-mile trip from New York City to Washington, D.C., on a single charge. The Zevo 600 stopped at a couple of destinations along the route, including landmarks in Philadelphia and Baltimore.

“FedEx is proud to be a part of this record-setting moment as we work toward our goal of achieving carbon-neutral operations by 2040,” said Mitch Jackson, chief sustainability officer with FedEx. “Electrifying our entire parcel pickup and delivery fleet is a crucial component of that goal and we’re thrilled BrightDrop is bringing real solutions to the market that can help us get there.”