FedEx Ground has nearly 600 pick-up and delivery facilities across the United States and Canada, including 37 hubs. These regional hubs are strategically located to allow for the most efficient delivery network. The FedEx ground route network can be thought of like a bicycle wheel. The hub is the wheel and the surrounding locations (terminals) are the spokes that support the wheel.
FedEx Ground Route Network
Throughout the FedEx Ground route network, there are about 95,000 employees and 8 million packages traveling through the system daily. FedEx is constantly upgrading and expanding its FedEx Ground distribution centers and hubs to create more efficiencies in shipping.
FedEx is currently in a state of expansion. Since 2004, FedEx Ground has opened 11 new hubs and expanded or relocated more than 500 facilities. In 2015, the company stated it is investing $1.2 billion across more than 70 expansion project throughout the fiscal year. Many of these projects have since been completed, giving the ground network a major facelift. These expansions have helped accelerate FedEx Ground delivery by one day or more in more than two-thirds of the United States. The company said that 83 percent of packages are delivered in three business days or less.
Ground Package Lifecycle
The following data is from the FedEx Ground site Build A Ground Biz explaining the how a package travels through the network.
The lifecycle of a package illustrates movement through the FedEx Ground network:
1. Shipper
Packages are picked up at a customer location in a local geographic area and transported to the local station by a contracted service provider.
2. Origin station
Packages that are picked up from local shippers are sorted for outbound transportation to a nearby hub.
3. Origin hub
At the origin hub, packages are unloaded and sorted, with loads consolidated onto trailers according to destination hub for the efficient movement of packages.
4. Destination hub
Trailers arrive at the destination hub, where packages are unloaded and sorted for transportation to the hub’s satellite stations.
5. Destination station
Packages arrive at the destination station to be sorted for delivery in the station’s service area.
6. Recipient
Packages are delivered to the intended commercial or residential customer.
