The carrier projects delivering 290 million packages between Black Friday and Christmas, and 20 million on each of the first two Mondays in December.

Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) — FedEx Corp., operator of the world’s largest cargo airline, forecast record shipments of more than 290 million packages between Black Friday and Christmas Eve amid an expected surge in e-commerce.

FedEx will move more than 20 million packages on each of the first two Mondays in December, and deliveries will peak at 22.6 million on Dec. 15, according to a statement today from the Memphis, TN-based company. The season total would be an 8.8% increase from a year earlier, FedEx said.

44% of the average consumer’s holiday shopping will be on the web this year, the highest since at least 2006, according to a National Retail Federation survey released last week. The proportion, up from 40 percent last year, includes browsing sessions where shoppers don’t make a purchase, the NRF said.

A jump in last-minute online shopping and severe winter weather snarled some shipments at FedEx and United Parcel Service Inc. during the 2013 holidays. CEO Fred Smith put some of the blame on retailers, saying they misrepresented when parcels had been given to shipping companies and improperly boxed and labeled packages. FedEx is hiring at least 50,000 seasonal workers to help ease deliveries this year.

FedEx is working more closely with retail customers to understand shipping needs and projected volumes during the holidays and is using new technology to more efficiently plan and track deliveries.

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Retail e-commerce spending may rise almost 17% this holiday season, the fastest growth since 2011, to $72.4 billion, New York-based market research firm EMarketer has estimated.

UPS, which is hiring 95,000 seasonal workers this year, hasn’t yet provided peak season forecasts.

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