Intermodal providers

While North American shippers remained satisfied overall in H1, they noticed the effects of the intermodal volume surge through slower train speeds, less reliable pickup and delivery schedules, and more tender rejections, according to the Intermodal Service Scorecard.

Higher diesel prices and rising truck rates seem poised to continue in the near term, giving the North American intermodal market an opportunity to maintain its steady performance in the back half of the year, writes Larry Gross.

Railroads hauled a record number of domestic containers in the second quarter as shippers banked some of the largest savings against truckload in the history of the Journal of Commerce’s Intermodal Savings Index.

The Port of Virginia has added Indianapolis as a new destination from one of its two container terminals, vying for inland business mostly served now out of New York-New Jersey.

Intermodal train speeds in June were down compared with a year ago for all North American railroads except for Canadian Pacific Kansas City.

Hunt set a company record for intermodal volume in the second quarter, with the gains coming as shippers increasingly turn to intermodal as they struggle to secure truckload capacity and absorb fuel price spikes linked to the war with Iran.

The restructuring injects new capital into the Ohio-based company just as the prolonged freight recession is ending and pricing power has swung back toward carriers.

The modest growth in domestic volumes the market has seen this year to date should be well within the sector’s capabilities to handle, but it’s far too soon to “declare victory,” writes Larry Gross.

The fee, which sources say is $300 per container, applies only after a shipper exceeds its contractual weekly allotment and is reset every week, so there are ways to avoid the charge with careful planning.

The UP routing was initially noticed by freight forwarders and drayage providers in the Chicago area who are increasingly going to UP’s Global IV terminal in Joliet instead of BNSF’s Logistics Park Chicago to retrieve Maersk containers.

It’s been five years since Union Pacific instituted a surcharge this early in the year, a sign that the railroad expects shippers to continue to shift freight off the highway amid higher trucking and fuel costs.

As asset-based intermodal marketing companies reject lower-priced freight, shippers are pushed deeper into routing guides and end up paying more well before the next round of contracts take effect.

The company is dealing with the fallout from a $77 million accounting error that has delayed its financial reporting, led to the departures of its CFO and COO, and is possibly behind slow payments to some third-party vendors.

After a difficult first quarter of declining container volumes, the Northwest Seaport Alliance wants to incorporate the best features of both landlord and operating ports to better meet the needs of its exporter and importer customers.

Huge rail bottlenecks are being reported across the busy network, with carriers, forwarders and rail freight operators battling to keep cargo flowing as demand begins to build in an early start to peak season.

Shareholder rights law firm Hagens Berman said it is continuing an investigation into whether the intermodal provider “misled investors about having prepared its financial statements consistent with relevant accounting rules.”

Rather than single objections against the proposed transcontinental railroad, time is the real threat to this deal, writes analyst Paul Tonsager.

The agency said there needs to be additional information submitted concerning the environmental impact of the merger.

But court filings show that even after restructuring, the company is likely to operate with thin margins and a relatively modest cash cushion.

Vancouver and Prince Rupert recorded solid year-over-year gains in the eastbound trans-Pacific as they focused on improving their intermodal efficiency to the interior of Canada and the US.

The long-term prospect for diesel costs and fuel surcharges is pushing US truck shippers to rethink how they move freight, and even to redesign networks.

The STB now has 30 days to decide whether the application is complete; a formal review by the regulator would likely stretch for more than a year and include public hearings.

STG’s deal with a group of lenders who filed a lawsuit in New York last year clears the way for it to emerge from bankruptcy as the company has benefited from the rebound in intermodal demand.

The jump in domestic intermodal volumes shows how quickly freight can move to rail when truckload pricing increases, but whether that shift sustains depends on how railroads handle the surge in cargo.

Domestic intermodal boosters have been waiting for three years for the competitive environment to improve, and perhaps that time has arrived, writes intermodal analyst Larry Gross.

Demand returned sharply last month as shippers, facing surging truckload rates, looked to intermodal for lower-cost capacity alternatives.

The railroads say they plan to file an updated merger application on April 30, addressing many of the complaints that caused regulators to deem their original application “incomplete.”

The agency’s ruling maintains the competitive status quo in which NS is the only railroad with direct access to Norfolk International Terminals.

The recent increase in intermodal share in the face of declining West Coast share is intriguing, and it might be signaling a more significant change in the situation, writes Larry Gross.

The Meridian Speedway dispute is important because it’s one of the primary routes where a combined Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern railroad would look to take market share from truckload.

The UP-NS merger and ONE’s Seaspan stake look like separate deals in separate industries, but they are the same move, writes Paul Tonsager.

While the White House has signaled support and Republicans hold a majority on the US Surface Transportation Board, opposition has surfaced that has many believing the $85 billion merger is not necessarily a done deal.

Those who would be affected by the proposed $85 billion transaction either directly or indirectly had plenty to say about the matter during the first TPM26 conference since the deal was announced.

The fourth-largest US domestic intermodal provider has received additional funding and now must focus on meeting revenue and expenditure targets through the second quarter.

Overall, more than 90% of respondents participating in the latest Journal of Commerce Intermodal Service Scorecard were satisfied with domestic intermodal service between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2025.

Spot intermodal savings reached record levels in the fourth quarter, but railroads might hold back on raising rates as the disruptive winter weather has skewed trucking rates.

CEO Mark Rourke said a spot rate surge in December was the first sign of truckload capacity exits having a material impact on prices that will eventually lead to the carrier being able to charge shippers higher rates.

But the US’ largest intermodal provider said during its fourth-quarter earnings call it is not forecasting a market inflection just yet, citing the “false starts” the industry has seen during the past 18 months.

Cooperation in the form of steel-wheel interchange has fallen out of fashion as railroads have become less willing to do the necessary work that is intrinsic in the swap of volume on rail, according to Larry Gross.

STG said the filing will reset its balance sheet and reduce debt obligations, but drayage, domestic intermodal, transloading and warehousing operations will not be affected.