LOWELL, Ark. — J.B. Hunt executives are disappointed that the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application did not include more details about the railroads’ intermodal plans.
“We continue to digest the application and had expected more intermodal-specific questions to be addressed in the merger application than there were,” Darren Field, president of J.B. Hunt Intermodal, said on the company’s earnings call on Thursday. “So we continue to plan for a wide variety of scenarios.”
J.B. Hunt — the largest domestic intermodal operator — is BNSF Railway’s partner in the West and has relied on Norfolk Southern as its main partner in the East, with CSX picking up a larger share of J.B. Hunt’s eastern business last year as a result of the BNSF-CSX intermodal alliance that launched in August.
J.B. Hunt executives have previously said that they would continue to work with all of the Class I railroads in a post-merger world.
“We continue to have conversations with all Class I railroads, and those conversations are progressing. In our view, there remains a significant amount of industry risks and opportunities, and we continue to work on multiple options to ensure our customers and shareholders are well placed,” CEO Shelley Simpson said on the earnings call. “We have a strong brand and service product and offer tremendous value to our rail providers given our scale, technology capabilities, and how we go to market. Our ability to deliver seamless, differentiated service across the entire North American intermodal network is a competitive advantage.”
Given its size, J.B. Hunt should play a major role in discussions regarding the future of domestic intermodal, Field said.
“We continue to see a large opportunity to convert highway truckload shipments to intermodal and have been actively pursuing these shipments long before any merger discussion. We have offered seamless transcontinental intermodal service for decades, connecting BNSF to both eastern railroads,” Field said. “Our focus remains on engaging in discussions and executing a strategy that is in the best interests of our customers and our shareholders.”
For 2025, J.B. Hunt handled 2.13 million intermodal loads, up from 2.03 million in 2024, amid ongoing freight doldrums and excess truck capacity.
Fourth quarter volume declined 2% year-over-year, with volume down 1% in October, 3% in November, and flat in December. Transcontinental volume was down 6%, while eastern loads were up 5% — figures J.B. Hunt said suffered from comparisons to a strong fourth quarter in 2024.
“As we move into 2026, the freight market feels fragile,” Simpson said. “Capacity continues to exit the truckload market, and we are testing the elasticity of supply.”
J.B. Hunt Intermodal’s quarterly revenue — which accounts for half of the company’s overall revenue — declined 3%, to $1.5 billion. Operating income increased 16%, to $135.5 million, due to a combination of cost-cutting and successful efforts to balance its network and reduce the number of empty container moves.
More detail on J.B. Hunt’s financial results is available online.
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