Faltering parcel demand is taking a deeper toll on FedEx. The package giant is laying off more than 10% of its global management staffers, the WSJ’s Esther Fung and Will Feuer report, as it tries to cut costs while realigning its business to match weaker shipping volumes and respond to investor pressure. FedEx has already trimmed its U.S. workforce by 12,000 since last summer through attrition, a hiring freeze and other head-count initiatives. It has also parked aircraft and furloughed workers in its trucking Freight segment, signaling the cuts are coming across a broad range of its operations. The company isn’t getting any help from the market. Rival United Parcel Service said this week it is facing a slowdown in global delivery volumes and forecast that its annual sales could decline. The results suggest the strength the carriers have enjoyed in pricing in recent years is also weakening.

• Amazon’s initial drone services in California and Texas have completed few deliveries because of regulatory constraints. (The Information)

Freight rail shipping trends are bumping up hard against local community concerns in Chicago. Norfolk Southern faces big hurdles there in trying to expand a freight yard that has become a big part of its U.S. network, the WSJ’s Joe Barrett writes, in a clash that highlights the significance of the region as a rail hub and the challenges of running rail operations through a dense urban area. Opposition has developed as Norfolk Southern has sought to move more containers through one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods under a multiyear, multimillion-dollar project. Norfolk Southern says it needs more space to handle longer trains and more volume. Experts say the project is part of a bigger trend that has seen railroads depend more on containers moving through intermodal terminals like the one in Chicago. Shifting freight volumes have increasingly put logistics operations alongside residential areas, however, and triggered local disputes.

• Canadian Pacific Railway’s fourth-quarter profit more than doubled on a 21% increase in revenue. (World Grain)

Global shifts in manufacturing and sourcing are on stark display in Mexican factories along the border with the U.S. Plants and industrial parks in the exporting hub of Tijuana are humming at nearly full capacity while in Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, recruiters are rushing to hire workers for companies arriving or expanding operations. The WSJ’s Anthony Harrup and Juan Montes report the energetic activity is the result of growing numbers of companies moving production and equipment to Mexico as they seek a manufacturing hub closer to the U.S., part of a broader shift in global trade. Some companies are relocating from Asia, while others are investing to raise output of goods that are exported tariff-free to the U.S. The pace of the growth is putting a premium on logistics capabilities, including distribution centers positioned to quickly and efficiently reach U.S. customers. 

• U.S. officials met with Indian policy makers and U.S. industry executives as part of an effort to shift critical technology supply chains away from China. (WSJ) 

TuSimple faces another potentially big roadblock in its efforts to bring self-driving trucks to U.S. roads. Representatives of a U.S. national-security panel are urging the Justice Department to consider economic-espionage charges against leaders of the autonomous technology company. The WSJ’s Kate O’Keeffe, Aruna Viswanatha and Heather Somerville, citing people familiar with the matter, report the recommendations stem from concerns that two founders and the current CEO were improperly transferring technology to a Chinese startup. A review of the business is being conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as Cfius. TuSimple is under strong scrutiny for its ties to China. Cfius, the FBI and securities regulators have been investigating whether TuSimple improperly financed and transferred technology to Hydron, a Chinese startup founded and run by TuSimple’s controlling shareholder and co-founder, Mo Chen. Several top TuSimple top staffers have also worked for Hydron.

• Rivian Automotive plans another round of layoffs as the Amazon-backed electric-vehicle maker looks to conserve cash. (WSJ)
• British electric-parcel-van startup Arrival is cutting 800 jobs, about half its global staff. (The Guardian)

The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate a quarter-point and signaled more increases are coming. (WSJ)

U.S. factory activity contracted in January to the lowest level since May 2020 and new orders declined sharply. (MarketWatch)

U.S. job openings rose sharply at the end of the year to their highest level since last summer. (WSJ)

Consumer inflation in the eurozone eased for the third straight month. (WSJ)

Federal authorities cited Amazon for safety violations at three more warehouses. (WSJ)

Airbus is reviving orders for close to 75 aircraft from Qatar Airways after settling a long-running dispute. (WSJ)

Peloton Interactive’s quarterly sales declined at a slower pace than expected. (WSJ)

Mondelez International doesn’t anticipate raising prices at the same level as in 2022 even though its costs remain high. (WSJ)

Global crude steel production fell last year for the first time in seven years. (Nikkei Asia)

U.S. semiconductor maker Wolfspeed will build a chip plant in Germany. (Financial Times)

Seaborne grain exports out of Ukraine fell to a four-month low last month. (Lloyd’s List)

Container throughput at China’s ports increased 4.7% last year, including 0.6% growth at the Port of Shanghai. (Port Technology)

CMA CGM ordered 12 methanol-propelled container ships from South Korean shipyard Hyundai Samho. (TradeWinds)

Expeditors International customer iRobot is suing the freight forwarder over its shutdown of operations following a cyberattack last year. (The Loadstar)

Interact Analysis expects Europe’s warehouse automation market to grow at a double-digit pace through 2027. (DC Velocity)

Aldi added a large distribution center in Loxley, Ala., to back its expansion​ in the Southeast. (Retail Insight)

Rockwell Automation named 25-year company veteran executive Bob Buttermore as chief supply chain officer. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at paul.page@wsj.com.

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @bylizyoung and @pdberger. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.