FedEx truck spills hundreds of packages on motorway on the busiest day in the company's history

The driver could have waited until after the holiday rush

FedEx truck spills hundreds of packages on motorway on the busiest day in the company's history. (Associated Press)

On the day that FedEx announced the busiest day in its history, it was perhaps inevitable that a truck carrying hundreds of its parcels would crash in New Jersey, thus potentially delaying the delivery of some of this year's Christmas cards and presents.

The US courier service said on Monday that it had experienced the busiest day in its history, shipping 22.6 million packages, double the normal daily volume. FedEx said that increase was driven by more and more customers buying goods online.

However, the good news for the company was somewhat overshadowed by an incident on Interstate 287 in Mahwah, New Jersey, where a large FedEx truck crashed and spilled its entire contents across the motorway. The scene was captured by aerial footage, showing FedEx workers hurriedly transferring the parcels from the crashed truck onto another vehicle.

The courier service said its personnel were quick on the scene to reduce any chance of delivery delays. New Jersey State police say the driver of the truck suffered only minor injuries.

Commenting on the company's record day on Monday, FedEx courier Anthony Pellerito said they were really helped by the rise in online shopping, saying, "Amazon in particular is really running this company right now".

That statement was backed up a company spokesperson, Jennifer Caccavo, "A lot of these packages are shipments from our online customers, like Amazon, or you see a lot of folks sending their Christmas cards with Shutterfly and Tiny Prints".

FedEx has 100,000 trucks and over 650 planes delivering packages across the world.