Western Railroad Discussion > Walmart Exits Intermodal Transportation

Walmart Exits Intermodal Transportation With J.B. Hunt Deal (msn.com)

Someone help me out with this excerpt from the article:

"Walmart had 14,100 53-foot containers in its fleet as of last April. Gross noted in his post that Walmart's domestic containers are of standard design and not compatible with J.B. Hunt containers or chassis, so J.B. Hunt "will be in effect managing two independent fleets."

J B Hunt containers are a non-standard design?

Ted Ferkenhoff
Flagstaff, AZ

tferk Wrote:
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> Someone help me out with this excerpt from the

>
> J B Hunt containers are a non-standard design?

I noticed this when I was driving BNSF crews in North Dakota. JB Hunt's containers are corrugated (like ocean containers) where other domestic containers were smooth-sided. I "guessed" they were designed that way so they could be stacked higher at terminals.

PCBill

Sounds like that's a big loss for UP.   

tferk Wrote:
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> J B Hunt containers are a non-standard design?

Correct. JB Hunt containers are a "lighter" design than standard domestic containers and can only be stacked 2-3 high. I also believe that they can not be transported on standard chassis, it must be a JB Hunt chassis.

Doesn't JBH already manage tractor and trailer fleets for Target, CVS, etc?

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Doesn't JBH already manage tractor and trailer
> fleets for Target, CVS, etc?

No. At least not CVS. Those are multi-year contracts.

Target has their own fleet of trailers, at least the ones that go to the stores anyway. No clue about warehose to warehouse. I'm not 100% sure but I believe they contract out to Ruan (at least in Minnesota) to get the trailers to the stores.

Mark Kennebeck
Saint Paul, MN

The actual JB Hunt release does not mention this. I think that doesnt apply to there newer containers only the older ones they started with. 

tferk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Someone help me out with this excerpt from the
> article:
>
> "Walmart had 14,100 53-foot containers in its
> fleet as of last April. Gross noted in his post
> that Walmart's domestic containers are of standard
> design and not compatible with J.B. Hunt
> containers or chassis, so J.B. Hunt "will be in
> effect managing two independent fleets."
>
> J B Hunt containers are a non-standard design?

Getting paid to manage somebody else's fleet can be a good deal.  These "asset light" transactions don't require a lot of investment relative to buying and owning fleets of equipment and logistics centers.

JB Hunt had a large presence with Walmart historically.  It was handled through their intermodal business, or JB Hunt's Dedicated Contracted Service (DCS) business segment.  DCS is JB Hunt's second largest business segment.  Q4 2023 DCS  revenue was $884 million.  DCS business is generally a cost plus contractual arrangement with the shipper.  So it is a good business for both carrier and shipper.

JB Hunt's original containers developed with Santa Fe utilized a different lift design than the standard IBC connectors. In order to maximize internal cube, they developed a"Wide Top Pick".  You can see "WTP" on the side of containers incorporating this design Since the containers were lifted on the sides at the top of the box, (instead of the standard Top pick ) there was a smaller internal intrusion at the top of the box.  Santa Fe and BNSF, as well as any other Railroad handling JB Hunt business, had to modify their intermodal cranes to utilize the Wide-top pick lift points.  

it clearly became the preferable mechanism for domestic containers, as that lift design is utilized by Schneider, Swift, Hub and Walmart.  It appears that the biggest difference with the Walmart boxes is that they use overhead doors, as compared to swing doors on the JB Hunt intermodal cans.

Lastly, the new generation of Hunt containers can be ground stacked at least 5 high.  There are several pics on the web showing this.

commissioner Wrote:
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> Target has their own fleet of trailers, at least
> the ones that go to the stores anyway. No clue
> about warehose to warehouse. I'm not 100% sure but
> I believe they contract out to Ruan (at least in
> Minnesota) to get the trailers to the stores.

If you watch the big retailers over time, you begin to see the rotation of operators.

Ruan
Swift
JBH DCS
Schneider
XPO Logistics
May Trucking
TCI

I am sure there are others, but I have seen those at various retailers in Southern California over the past several decades. The contracts are 3-5 years and then someone gets the next contract.

tferk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Someone help me out with this excerpt from the
> article:
>
> "Walmart had 14,100 53-foot containers in its
> fleet as of last April. Gross noted in his post
> that Walmart's domestic containers are of standard
> design and not compatible with J.B. Hunt
> containers or chassis, so J.B. Hunt "will be in
> effect managing two independent fleets."
>
> J B Hunt containers are a non-standard design?

JB hunt chassis & container bottoms have a different frame shape. While everyone elses chassis and containers I believe are straight framed. Plus the pin locks are wider on a hunt chassis.  So only a JB hunt containers can fit on JB hunt chassis & vice versa. As for why WM intermodal failed, they respond now to Amazon's moves, so when Amazon started an IM fleet Walmart didn't blink by starting theirs.  My guess is the drayage distance between most of their warehouses and railyard was a problem. not a issue for amazon who's warehouses are often near city limits.

a lot of j.b. hunt containers on an e/b today on the bnsf's seligman sub e/of kingman, az............

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