Continued investment in transportation capabilities, as well as nearly a year of planning, has prepared Amazon to tackle the holiday delivery season, according to a Monday (Oct. 25) company blog post.
The eCommerce giant said that multiple forms of transportation – including planes, trucks, ships and vans – as well as well-stocked warehouses will help to combat supply chain snafus this holiday season.
In addition, Amazon staff has been “hard at work for months, focusing on capacity and demand planning to balance our customers’ needs against any supply chain or transportation challenges that may occur,” according to the blog.
The company’s planning for the holiday season, which began on Jan. 1, includes more options to move goods to customers, according to the announcement. Amazon has increased ports of entry across its network by 50%, increased its container processing capacity twofold and broadened ocean freight carrier network partnerships, according to the announcement.
The company recently expanded its Amazon Air cargo fleet and anticipates having more than 85 aircraft in its fleet this season. Amazon Freight operates a pool of more than 50,000 trailers that move goods across the world.
The expanded transportation teams work together with the more than one million Amazon staffers worldwide, as well as the 150,000 seasonal employees that will be hired throughout the U.S. to help pick, pack, stow and ship customer orders, according to the company.
The United States Postal Service, meanwhile, is ramping up for the holiday shipping season by adding 45 new facilities, adding 112 new machines to sort packages and hiring 40,000 seasonal workers, as PYMNTS reported. The increases are aimed at bolstering USPS’ ability to handle 50.1 million packages a day, up 35% from last year.
Related news: Post Office Promises to Be Ready for Holiday Rush
Walmart and Target, too, have recently outlined how they plan to handle supply chain issues amid the impending holiday season. Walmart is chartering ships and moving shipments to less congested ports, hiring thousands of supply chain workers and truck drivers, and rerouting inland shipments, while Target has added four new sorting centers, added two new distribution centers and hired more than 30,000 year-round supply chain staffers.
See also: Retailers Outline Supply Chain Strategies in Bid to Win Customers
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More