Schneider National said Friday that its shift to Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s rail line for cross-border intermodal service is yielding significant results. The multimodal transportation provider said its Mexico-to-Chicago lane is now running three days ahead of the industry average of seven days.
Green Bay, Wisconsin-based Schneider (NYSE: SNDR) is the only carrier providing a single-rail intermodal offering in and out of Mexico. Schneider’s service on the CPKC line offers daily scheduled departures with up to a 12% reduction in transit times.
“Our cross-border objective isn’t just to move goods — it’s to move them smarter, faster and more securely,” said Michael Baumgardt, Schneider’s senior vice president of intermodal, in a news release. “Decreasing shipping time by even a few days matters to our customers because the faster products can get on the shelves, the faster those items can land in the hands of consumers.”
Schneider announced in April 2023 that it would be a strategic intermodal carrier on the newly merged CPKC (NYSE: CP) line. The deal was part of Schneider’s long-term goal of doubling the size of its intermodal unit by 2030.
The segment generated more than $1 billion in revenue last year, delivering nearly 420,000 loads. Schneider said its cross-border service grew twice as fast as Mexico’s cross-border intermodal market, which was up 17% last year.
The company also credits CPKC’s completion of a second rail bridge over the Rio Grande River at Laredo, Texas with doubling rail capacity. High-speed imaging at the crossing allows trains to be inspected while in motion. Because stops are not required on the steel-wheel service, the company has achieved a 99.98% cross-border security rate.
Schneider recently launched a direct intermodal service connecting Mexico and Texas to the Southeast U.S.
“Our strategic collaboration with Schneider has delivered new transportation solutions made possible through the unrivaled reach of the CPKC network,” said Jonathan Wahba, CPKC’s senior vice president of bulk and intermodal. “Our team proudly provides secure, reliable truck-competitive services to Schneider that continue to outperform expectations in the market.”
Schneider will report second-quarter financial results on July 31.
