J.B. Hunt Expands Transloading Footprint With the Addition of Seattle and Laredo, Texas Operations

Service now covers 4 of the largest US ocean ports, largest land port of entry

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc., one of the largest supply chain solutions providers in North America, announced an expansion of its transload strategy that includes new operations in Seattle and Laredo, Texas to solve for customers’ needs and provide quick access to outbound rail and highway transport.

Based on its industry-disrupting model and the success of previous operations, the company’s transloading service footprint now encompasses four of the largest ocean ports and the largest land port of entry into the U.S. All four facilities are located within close proximity to port and/or rail terminals and offer seamless access to J.B. Hunt’s 53’ intermodal container fleet and highway services, including the company’s J.B. Hunt 360box® drop-and-hook trailer program.

“The complexities of international shipping continue to impact how our customers bring freight into the domestic supply chain,” said Darren Field, president of intermodal and executive vice president at J.B. Hunt. “By growing the reach of our transload service and managing the drayage and loading processes for our customers, we can provide new levels of process oversight and visibility into their freight activity, particularly the critical first mile segment.”

Both new operations will enable J.B. Hunt to transfer customers’ international freight to equipment for domestic transport using the company’s transportation assets and capacity solutions. In addition to services already offered in the Northeast and Southern California, J.B. Hunt recently began operations at a facility at the southern border and plans to open a facility in the Pacific Northwest by November.

The Tacoma, Washington-based facility will service freight arriving at the Seattle and Tacoma ports and help relieve constraints resulting from the increase of international shipping demand. The operation will also complement a direct container-only joint service BNSF launched in August between its Tacoma South facility and Chicago. The two companies announced a joint initiative earlier this year to relieve intermodal capacity constraints.

The Laredo operation is one of the first transloading facilities available after crossing the border to enter the U.S. The location will provide a direct opportunity to growing nearshoring operations in Mexico while continuing support for inbound and outbound cross-border traffic. Freight entering and exiting the U.S. often requires transloading services because of regulation requirements, carrier and driver availability, and domestic capacity demand.

J.B. Hunt opened its first company-owned transload facility in November 2021 to assist shippers in the New York metro area with port drayage, transloading and inland linehaul solutions. The company expanded its transload footprint in July with a new facility and operations in Commerce, California to support international cargo in the Los Angeles and Long Beach areas.

J.B. Hunt operates one of the largest company-owned fleets in North America with approximately 111,000 intermodal containers, 20,000 tractors and 40,000 trailers. The company’s J.B. Hunt 360°® technology platform is an industry leader in digital freight matching and provides shippers with access to nearly one million trucks through qualified third-party carriers across the country.

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