Printer Friendly
Postal News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 8, 2002
Contact: (202) 268-2155
Release No. 02-074
Postal Service Recounts FedEx Support To Keep Mail Moving Following September 11 Attacks
MEMPHIS, TN - The senior official responsible for keeping the mail stream flowing cited FedEx Express as a vital link in the transportation chain the Postal Service relies upon to keep the mail moving following the FAA air security restrictions put in place following 9/11.
Paul Vogel, vice president, Network Operations Management, who oversees the logistics to transport domestic and international mail among the Postal Service's mail processing and distribution center network briefed the Postal Service's Board of Governors on the partnership during their monthly meeting here.
The Board typically meets at Postal Headquarters in Washington, DC. They met in Memphis to tour Fed Ex facilities.
"The biggest help that we had in addressing the events of September 11 and the network disruptions," explained Vogel," was the help extended by our logistics partners, Federal Express."
Vogel said that just two weeks prior, on August 28, 2001, the Postal Service activated a nationwide shared transportation network with FedEx Express. The historic agreement gave the Postal Service shared access to the world's largest air cargo airline and replaced a number of air cargo contracts with multiple companies. The arrangement called for FedEx cargo jets to carry Express, Priority Mail, and First-Class Mail to 71 cities during the day. During night hours, the number of cities increases to 116.
"None of the former contracts - individually or as a whole - offered the scope, market reach, systems capabilities or financial stability the Postal Service now enjoyed with FedEx Express," he explained.
Then, on September 11, Vogel said the use of American Flight 11 at 8:43 a.m. to attack the World Trade Center touched off a series of events that culminated in the only shutdown of U.S. air space in history as the FAA grounded all civilian aviation. More than 4,500 airborne domestic flights - regardless of where they were or where they were headed were ordered to land immediately.
"In just two-and-a-half hours," he explained, "air traffic controllers scrambled to empty America's skies by landing an airliner every two seconds."
The Postal Service moves about 680 million pieces of mail a day to support a $900 billion industry that employs nine million Americans representing eight percent of the domestic gross national product. About a quarter of that 680 million -- representing money, medicine, and merchandise - flies. Vogel said that as the commercial aviation's largest customer, the Postal Service uses over 15,000 commercial passenger flights daily to transport mail.
Grounding commercial passenger service along with the FedEx Network resulted in millions of pieces of mail sitting in cargo holds of parked aircraft scattered across the country.
"This mail included: money, messages, merchandise and medicine, along with food and supplies needed by customers in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico," he said.
"We were faced with a tremendous dilemma," Vogel added. "All aircraft grounded and millions of pieces of mail to move. Although we maintained contingency plans to move mail in times of network disruption, they were not designed to compensate for the loss of all air networks."
Within hours of the attacks, FedEx, whose aircraft were also grounded, created an extensive truck network to begin moving Express and Priority Mail products.
Two-days later, FedEx resumed partial network service and First-Class Mail began to move on a limited number of commercial passenger aircraft due to newly imposed FAA security restrictions which still remain in place today.
Keeping in mind that only ten business days had elapsed between the full-up operations and the terrorist attacks, Vogel said FedEx immediately contributed to the solution.
"They expanded their network to accommodate our needs," he explained. "Through constant communication, at all levels of both organization, we were able to make day-to-day adjustments to the network which allowed us to meet our objectives. FedEx has shown themselves to be a very supportive and flexible logistics partner."
As a result of these and other actions, Vogel said service for Priority and First-Class Mail reached record levels . "Express service is now the highest it's been in four years."
###
Since 1775, the U.S. Postal Service has connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. It is an independent federal agency that makes deliveries to 137 million addresses every day and is the only service provider to deliver to every address in the nation. The Postal Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of more than $65 billion, it is the world's leading provider of mail and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 43 percent of the world's mail volume - some 207 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year - and serves 7 million customers each day at its 38,000 retail locations nationwide.
# # #