UPDATE: FedEx Freight Chief Duncan To Retire In February

FedEx Corp. (FDX) said Tuesday that Douglas G. Duncan, the head of the company's less-than-truckload freight division, is retiring, effective Feb. 28.

FedEx, which announced the move in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said a successor to Duncan as president and chief executive of FedEx Freight hasn't been appointed.

Less-than-truckload shippers consolidate cargo from multiple customers on single trucks. The less-than-truckload market has been hit hard amid the economic downturn, as shipping demand dried up and left an overcapacity of trucks chasing dwindling amounts of freight.

FedEx Freight posted a 27% drop in revenue in FedEx's fiscal first quarter ended Aug. 31, on a 14% decline in freight volume. Operating profit came in at $2 million, compared to $89 million in the year-ago period.

Still, the company noted last week that it recently has been seeing improving trends in the freight division as the economy showed signs of stabilizing.

FedEx combined two regional less-than-truckload companies - American Freightways and Viking Freight - in 2001 to form FedEx Freight. Duncan, 58, led Viking Freight before the takeover and became the first CEO of FedEx Freight.

-By Bob Sechler; Dow Jones Newswires; 512-394-0285; [e-mail]