J.B. Hunt, BNSF to enter arbitration over revenue sharing

Trucking carrier J.B. Hunt Transport and Class I BNSF Railway have filed for arbitration in their negotiations regarding how revenues are divided under a joint service agreement for intermodal transport.    Trucking carrier J.B. Hunt Transport and Class I BNSF Railway will enter arbitration over intermodal revenue sharing, the companies said in separate statements.
   The negotiations stem from a joint service agreement (JSA), under which J.B. Hunt hauls containers to and from BNSF’s rail network and the two companies split the associated revenues.
   According to J.B. Hunt, the JSA provides that the revenue division is reviewed on a quarterly basis for “fairness,” but that the split has not been reviewed by a third party in over a decade, during which time the intermodal network built by the two has seen “tremendous growth and increased operating complexities.”
   The last time the companies sought arbitration was in 2004, and J.B. Hunt ended up taking a $16.5 million charge as a result, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
   The intermodal JSA provides a crucial revenue stream for both companies, with intermodal accounting for 59 percent of J.B. Hunt’s $6.2 billion in revenues during 2015.
   BNSF said that due to the confidential nature of the JSA, as well as the arbitration proceedings, it would not comment further at this time.