J.B. Hunt Transport Services announced Friday it has started a new transload service in New York amid the nation’s supply chain bottlenecks.
The New York metro area service will provide shippers with port drayage, transloading and linehaul service to inland destinations. The operation will be supported by a facility in Jersey City, New Jersey, which was recently expanded.
J.B. Hunt (NASDAQ: JBHT) began using 25,000 square feet of space at the site in October to launch the service. The 24/7 facility has on-site parking and is positioned in close proximity to major railroads and port terminals in New York.
“Our new transloading service will help customers accelerate freight movement and improve container fluidity,” Shelley Simpson, CCO and EVP of people and human resources, said in the press release. “It is the latest example of how J.B. Hunt is creating solutions for customers to improve the agility of their supply chain.”
The transload offering is billed as “a one-stop source for quickly transferring ocean freight into equipment for domestic transport,” a press release read. The company expects customers to also utilize its intermodal and highway services out of the facility to any location in the U.S.
J.B. Hunt has been working to address congestion and slower turns of its equipment for months now. It is taking delivery of 12,000 intermodal containers to help unclog its network. Once that is completed in early 2022, the company will have a fleet of roughly 110,000 boxes in service.
The company has also stepped up its enforcement of accessorial charges to customers that are taking longer to unload equipment at warehouses. The delays have come about as retailers, like transportation providers, struggle to find labor. A lack of dockworkers at customer facilities has been the primary constraint on growth in J.B. Hunt’s intermodal unit, although higher yields in the third quarter led to better results in the division on a year-over-year comparison.
Jack Fuller
There have been examples of acquiring more new boxes that aggrevated the congestion, rather than easing it. That occurred with chemical and plastics rail shippers during UP’s 1997 meltdown. Because turn times increased, shippers needed more cars – which contributed to increased congestion.