This will certainly contribute to BNSF’s domination in intermodal traffic.
J B Hunt is the best thing that happened to BNSF over the years. They appear to have first-rate customer service which attracts more business.
I wonder if JB Hunt will repaint the containers fully or just pur their reporting marks on them and leave the Walmart graphics on the sides.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t just keep using them for Walmart business. JBH seems to do a lot of their hauling, even though it’s a small percentage of the Walmart business.
They’d want to keep Walmart markings to avoid having lift operators trying to place the boxes on the incompatible Hunt chassis.
Interesting. I thought intermodal standards were universal?
J B Hunt has a propreitary chassis and container setup. This is due to their equipment being customized for lighter tare weight, than standard domestic con/chassis combos. J B Hunt chassis have a narrower neck past the tandem’s, than standard domestic chassis. Which means their containers have a narrower funnel to fit the chassis neck.
The jury is still out on that one. Going back to the ATSF days alot of IMC’s were pushed out of the network. The Quantum agreement eventually moved BNSF to eliminate rail controlled equipment.
Today any IMC who wants to ship BNSF has to use an (IEP) intermodal equipment providers such as; Run Rail, COFC Logistics, Unit 53, Twin Logistics, and a few others… However this doesn’t really change the dynamic, as the Quantum agreement gives JBH priority; slot, availability, and reservations. With the exception of UPS and some LTL carriers… Also some of the IEP’s lack equipment in certain lanes, or don’t provide equipment in other lanes. Run Rail for example doesn’t have equipment in or serve the Denver market. Even then they may have very limited equpiment available for IMC’s.
I’m not entirely against the wholesale IM model, but it leaves a considerate portion of value (profit) on the table, that the Class 1’s lose out on…
Anyhow, if you’re an IMC. Union Pacific is your best bet with the EMP/UMAX pools. Which have been performing quite well recently with ultilization.
Consulted with JB Hunt in the past, they have a nice HQ even though it is in the middle of nowhere, USA. At that time they were oogling over the BNSF website and were enamored with it’s intuitiveness and ability to track shipments, they wanted my employer to produce a similar CRM based website for them using the BNSF website as a sort of template. So they do like some of the client relationship aspects and approach by BNSF.
“middle of nowhere, USA”
12 Miles from Walmart’s HQ
Criminy! That saves enough weight make unstandardizing the system worthwhile?
Probably more a matter of saving money than saving weight…
Yup, been in Walmart HQ as well. Bentonville, AK. If you never have been there I would avoid it. Back when I was consulting the Airport only had 2 gates. It probably has expanded by now but I always used to laugh when the pilot came on the PA and said “We are currently number 1 for takeoff”. Almost everytime I heard that…too funny.[:D]
Walmart HQ looks like a large Walmart itself because they used the same building materials and paint to save money…lol.
I will say this and back on topic, Walmart trucking or more than one distribution center there…not sure which but Walmart trucking had a presence in Bentonville, acres and acres of Semi’s and trailers, it was impressive.
Maybe they know what they’re doing.
Biggest does not always equate to “best”. Just like UP isn’t probably the best Class One, although I believe it’s the biggest. If I had to work at any of those retailers, I’d pick Costco.
I didn’t intend to say they were the “best”. I intended to say that maybe they know what they’re doing. While many look down on them, they continue to rake in the money.
Actually it costs them more as their stuff is custom to their specifications unlike standard shipping containers which only have the one chassis shape. The only thing it does insure is this no shortage of chassis for JB Hunt driver’s as standard procedure is take an empty into the intermodal yard with you and get your container loaded there. Also the combination weight on their chassis and containers is around 19k around 7k pounds more than a standard 53 foot trailer. What I’m almost willing to take a bet on is that Walmart is wanting to get rid of their own trucks and driver’s that cost them a fortune in pay and benefits. Better to let JB Hunt run all the logistics for your stores. Heck they dang near run all the beer out of Budweiser as it is now.
No they are just cheap. Thats why their HQ is in Bentonville, AK. JB Hunt has nice offices and all but they were cheap too, most trucking companies are. The only regret I had with Walmart though is I could not sing the Walmart song in the morning when everyone started work because I was not an employee I was just a contractor…gull darn!!!
I just became a Walmart stockholder last week before the 3 for 1 split. Yes they made a smart move with the recent VIZIO buy.
I still remember the first day at JB Hunt. “Lets all go out to lunch…our treat”…they took us to Chik-Fil-A. This was before my first Waffle House moment on a railfan trip so it was kind of a shock.[:D]
It has to be wondered if the recent announcement of Walmart’s elimination customer self-checkouts has anything to do with this, i.e., J. B. Hunt buying Walmart containers. J. B. Hunt containers are kind of incognito, but Walmart containers shout out, ‘Hey thieves, rob me!’
Got it. So in 50 years they have grown into the world’s largest retailer without knowing what they are doing. I guess it was just luck.