GREEN BAY, Wis. — Schneider National’s intermodal growth continued in the third quarter, the No. 3 intermodal operator said on Thursday (Oct. 30), thanks to higher volumes in the East and an ongoing surge cross-border Mexico traffic.
Executives said it’s still too early to assess the potential ramifications of Union Pacific’s proposed acquisition of Norfolk Southern. Schneider partners with UP in the West and with CSX in the East.
“It’s still very early in this process and you know, we’re very engaged with the rails. As the process is evolving, there’s still a lot more details that need to reveal themselves. And when they do, we’ll be able to start saying more,” Jim Filter, group president of transportation and logistics, said on the company’s earnings call.
Over the past three years, Schneider successfully navigated the shift of its western traffic from BNSF to UP and its Mexico business from UP to Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Filter said. “Obviously we came out of it stronger than we went into those, and that’s what really enabled our market share growth,” he said.
Schneider’s overall intermodal volume was up 10% for the quarter, to 116,592 loads. Cross-border volume was up more than 50%. Schneider said that was several times the industry rate in Mexico thanks to CPKC’s Mexico Midwest Express service, which is one to three days faster than competing options. Growth in the east, meanwhile, was the strongest since 2022.
Excess trucking capacity has limited intermodal growth for several years, but Schneider executives said that may be changing due to a wave of new federal regulations targeting safety, security, and workforce eligibility. The regulations and stricter enforcement have reduced the number of truck drivers and might tighten capacity by more than 4%, executives said.
“Several new dynamics have been introduced over the last few months that are definitive catalysts for the removal of excess capacity, including regulatory enforcement actions, which have the potential to significantly change the supply dynamics of the industry,” Chief Financial Officer Darrell Campbell said.
Schneider is already seeing an uptick in conversions of over-the-road moves to intermodal.
Quarterly operating income for the company’s intermodal segment increased 7%, to $16.8 million, as revenue rose 6%, to $281.4 million.
“volume was up 10% for the quarter, to 116,592 loads”
That is under 1300 carloads per day. Whether it is individual containers or cars with 2 containers, this is NOT an impressive number. If if is containers, this is 3 trainloads a day. I wonder how many long haul trucks are on the road every day? Probably hundreds of thousands.