LOWELL, Ark. — Railroads’ intermodal service improved considerably during the third quarter, J.B. Hunt executives said this week on the company’s earnings call.
“Rail service has shown real signs of improvement in both velocity and reliability during the quarter with positive momentum building, the most notable increase coming from our friends at the BNSF,” J.B. Hunt CEO John Roberts says.
That’s a turnaround from August, when Darren Field, J.B. Hunt’s intermodal president, told an investor conference that rail service was at historically low levels, with trains routinely arriving a day or two behind schedule.
Since then, however, J.B. Hunt’s rail partners — BNSF Railway in the west and primarily Norfolk Southern in the east — have shown steady progress as crew shortages and related congestion have eased.
“While we are not back to where we need to be, I am pleased to say that we saw a meaningful improvement in velocity and performance from BNSF as the quarter progressed, but in particular in mid-August and throughout the remainder of the quarter,” Field said on this week’s earnings call.
J.B. Hunt’s intermodal volume was up 4% in the third quarter. The growth would have been stronger if not for two factors.
First, slow box turns — from arrival at an intermodal terminal to the customer dock and back — limited capacity. Customers have been slow to unload, particularly at warehouses that are short of labor and running near full capacity.
Second, in September customers shifted some loads from rail to road to avoid getting caught up in a potential railroad strike. J.B. Hunt’s volume was down 2% in September, but likely would have been up by at least 3%, Field says. Volume has bounced back this month.
Some progress. But the possibility of a strike in November still looms.