J.B. Hunt Reported Close to Intermodal Deal

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, the trucking company that helped launch the intermodal industry through an agreement with Western carrier Santa Fe Railway in 1989, may be close to a new long-term agreement with an Eastern railroad, Reuters reported yesterday.

Several rail investment analysts have said Lowell, Ark.-based J.B. Hunt Transport is close to an exclusive intermodal agreement with either Norfolk Southern or CSX. The analysts included Robert W. Baird's Jon Langenfeld and Jason Seidl of Dahlman Rose & Co., Reuters reported.

"A long-term agreement could be a significant catalyst for J.B. Hunt, strengthening its best-in-class domestic intermodal franchise," Langenfeld said in an Oct. 1 note to investors. J.B. Hunt Transport and the Eastern rail lines did not comment.

In a separate note on last week's RailTrends conference, Langenfeld called intermodal "the long-term bright spot for the railroads." "Even in the near term, intermodal has shown its resilience as evidenced by the fact that domestic container intermodal has been flat-to-slightly up year to date."

J.B. Hunt Transport's intermodal business has outstripped its original long-haul trucking business, with volumes growing from 20 loads in 1989 to more than 850,000 loads in 2008.

Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com.