intermodal volumes

As tariff talk cools, intermodal carriers are becoming more upbeat.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services reported record intermodal volumes for the fourth quarter, but shares sagged after the market closed Thursday as costs overshadowed the period.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services missed second-quarter expectations Tuesday and said it is still uncertain how peak season will play out.

Management from J.B. Hunt said it needs to see more data before making a call that the industry is exiting a freight recession.

Intermodal executives from J.B. Hunt and Schneider are hopeful for improving demand in the second half of 2023 but acknowledge it’s still too early to tell.

J.B. Hunt missed first-quarter expectations Monday as weak intermodal and trucking trends plagued the quarter.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services beat third-quarter expectations Tuesday but said that cooling freight demand will place greater scrutiny on cost control moving forward.

Railroad intermodal volumes are down, but consumer spending remains relatively strong. Carloads of coal are up, but forest products are down. Whether these volume changes reflect broader macroeconomic slowing remains less clear.

Management from J.B. Hunt Transport Services doubles down on long-term growth initiatives in its intermodal unit.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services beat second-quarter expectations despite persistent rail congestion and supply chain bottlenecks.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services’ second quarter came in ahead of forecasts.

On its first-quarter call with analysts, management from J.B. Hunt said demand indications from customers have been strong. The path is likely not as easy for smaller players in the space.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services reported first-quarter results well ahead of analysts’ forecasts Monday after the market closed.

The Cass Freight Index sags in January on a rise in COVID cases, but the dataset appears poised again for strong growth in 2022.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services beat fourth-quarter expectations. Visibility into 2022 remains murky but management is calling for continued growth.

J.B. Hunt’s fourth quarter comes in ahead of consensus as the intermodal, brokerage and truckload divisions see notable year-over-year improvements.

Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services jumped 10% Friday as the company navigated supply chain challenges during the third quarter to beat analysts’ forecasts.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services sidesteps disruption throughout the transportation network to beat analysts’ forecasts.

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Forward Air posts a quarterly record for operating income and revenue in the second quarter.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services beat second-quarter expectations Monday. However, the back half of 2021 will depend on how well the railroads and shippers can improve their operations.

Appearing at an investor conference Wednesday, management from J.B. Hunt Transport Services said delivery schedules for new containers are being hindered by a lack of ocean capacity, not manufacturers’ build schedules.

“First Class I railroad in North America to issue green bonds,” Norfolk Southern shares plans for environmental projects.

Steel and chemicals were among the commodities that showed volume strength in April, according to the Association of American Railroads. North American intermodal volumes grew 10.5% in the first quarter, said the Intermodal Association of North America.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services updated its long-term division margin targets on its first-quarter call Thursday.

International intermodal volumes for the U.S. have risen 44% year-over-year, according to FreightWaves SONAR, amid higher import activity.

Booming sales, thin inventories and more stimulus on the way provide the backdrop for potentially setting a new record for retail container imports in 2021. The National Retail Federation raised its outlook again for loaded containers landing at U.S. ports in the first half of the year.

Wells Fargo transportation research analyst Allison Poliniak-Cusic raises expectations for intermodal providers in a new report. Favorable catalysts for the mode are expected to carry into 2022.

J.B. Hunt believes recent winter storms will negatively impact first-quarter operating income by $15 million to $20 million. The company said it had been successful advancing its intermodal service initiatives prior to the storms.

Higher consumer spending, inventory restocking and rising import levels contributed to a 9.6% gain in North American intermodal volumes in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the Intermodal Association of North America.

Management from Schneider National expects tightness in the trucking markets to continue. Inventory restocking will keep truck demand elevated and new capacity is entering the market at a slower pace than in previous cycles.

Management from J.B. Hunt sees the current inventory replenishment cycle sustaining a high freight demand environment through the first quarter of 2021.

Hub Group sees a strong demand environment continuing as most of its customers are operating with lean inventories. The company expects tight freight fundamentals to create a favorable rate environment in 2021.

The strength in truckload fundamentals didn’t really show in Schneider National’s third-quarter report. Lower revenue per truck, intermodal rail congestion and brokerage malaise overshadowed the announcement of a $2 special dividend.

U.S. intermodal volumes grew in September amid a continued increase in U.S. imports.

It is too early to call the intermodal recovery a long-term win for the railroads.

Cass data for the month of August shows significant acceleration in demand and rates but the comparisons to 2019 still lag other data sources.

Tightening truckload and intermodal markets have carriers expecting the hot freight market to carry forward. One carrier is calling for large rate increases in 2021.

Containers are used to carry imports to the U.S., but they also carry exports from the U.S. The agriculture industry depends on them, but COVID-19 has caused the system to fray…

Hub Group’s second-quarter earnings beat was accompanied by the expectation for intermodal volume to increase in the high-single-digit range for the rest of the year.

“Cost containment” minimizes the impact of a 15% revenue decline during Schneider National’s second quarter. Guidance was reinstated higher than current consensus expectations.

Company is leveraging rail service for its Transplace customers.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services posts a solid second quarter, besting analysts’ forecast by 31 cents per share.

Railroad volumes continue to drop. What might they do to increase volumes? Where are the volume increases going to come from?

The fourth quarter of 2020 or the first quarter of 2021 might be when the intermodal sector will see some volume growth. But truck capacity, fuel pricing and pandemic uncertainties make a recovery hard to pin down.

Moody’s says rail volumes could slip 15% or more in 2020. Meanwhile, IANA confirms declines in international intermodal volumes in the first quarter.

Hub Group’s first quarter miss included several one-off expenses unlikely to recur. However, volume headwinds are expected to persist in the near-term.

North American rail volumes last week were approaching levels normally seen during Christmas and New Year’s, according to the Association of American Railroads.

Hub Group joins other transportation companies in accessing revolving credit to improve liquidity.

Intermodal volumes slump as the coronavirus cuts North American import and export volume.

Coronavirus has strained supply chains and had a huge impact on the movement of freight.

The drop in weekly intermodal volumes in North America could be a reflection of the impact of coronavirus on the supply chain.

The World Health Organization on Friday raised its assessment of the global coronavirus risk from “high” to “very high,” the most serious assessment in its new four-stage alert system. “This is a Class 1 event and is unprecedented in modern history,” FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller said of the global economic and supply chain effects of […]

FreightWaves SONAR has new information for subscribers.

Jim Blaze writes about the potential of short-haul intermodal traffic on the North American Class 1 railroads.

Market Expert Michael Baudendistel writes about rail intermodal volume is lower for the long-term, or can it be more competitive with trucking.

Jim Blaze writes about the Alameda Corridor in Los Angeles, that takes some of the freight from the harbor to distribution centers. Is it still economically viable?

For anyone in and around the Corn Belt in 2019, the lasting effects of this spring’s flooding are still front and center in everyone’s mind. The economy has been impacted as two of the area’s largest industries have been hit the hardest – agriculture and transportation.   Farming and freight are indelibly tied in this part […]

While Hub Group reported a
good quarter, its near-term outlook is pretty rough. In short, Hub Group doesn’t see a peak season coming in 2019.

Market Voice Jim Blaze writes about rail intermodal and what is happening to this area of the railroad sector.

Jim Blaze writes about the recent history of intermodal rail service and what may happen in the next few years.

Year-to-date U.S. rail volumes fell again amid a loosening truck market, receding floodwaters in the Midwest and overall economic uncertainty.

U.S. intermodal volumes fell 5.9 percent in May, while carloads fell 2.1 percent amid economic uneasiness and uncertainties surrounding U.S. trade between Mexico and China.