J.B. Hunt Launches Southern California Transload Service

Exclusive company fleet will help improve container velocity and streamline drayage

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc., one of the largest supply chain solutions providers in North America, will open its first transload service facility to support international cargo along the West Coast and streamline its inland transportation for customers.

The strategically located facility supporting the Los Angeles and Long Beach area will provide port drayage and transloading services, with quick access to outbound rail and highway transport. The new facility and service will complement the company’s recent announcement to help customers accelerate the delivery of overseas freight through a long-term multi-vessel service agreement.

“The increase in import activity over recent years has created a bottleneck at the port, resulting in inefficient delays and rising costs,” said Shelley Simpson, chief commercial officer and executive vice president of people and human resources at J.B. Hunt. “We are providing customers with a complete solution that not only alleviates those challenges, it can accelerate their ability to meet domestic demand by offering a seamless port, transload, and domestic outbound move.”

To streamline port drayage, J.B. Hunt will have a company fleet dedicated to transporting inbound ocean freight from the port to the new facility, minimizing demurrage and per diem costs and accelerating the turn time to prepare freight for domestic transport. Cargo containers will be loaded directly onto company-owned marine chassis and arrive at the J.B. Hunt facility for prompt transloading into domestic trailing equipment supported by its company fleet. By eliminating the inefficiencies created with handoffs between multiple providers, customers will benefit from J.B. Hunt’s holistic solution.

“A transloading model provides customers with a more efficient flow of international containers through the supply chain by eliminating imbalanced moves and turning boxes faster,” said Darren Field, president of intermodal and executive vice president at J.B. Hunt. “Having optionality between domestic intermodal and interior-point intermodal (IPI) services will be important for our customers when uncertainties remain pervasive.”

The new transloading operation, located only minutes from US Highway 5 and Interstate 710, includes a 91,000-square-foot warehouse and 8 acres of parking for up to 300 containers. With close proximity to both port and rail terminals, the facility will provide shippers with quick, preferred access to J.B. Hunt’s 53’ intermodal container fleet and highway services, including the company’s J.B. Hunt360box® drop-and-hook trailer program.

J.B. Hunt opened its first transload service in November 2021 to assist shippers in the New York metro area with port drayage, transloading and inland linehaul solutions. With today’s announcement, J.B. Hunt now offers customers a solution for their international containers arriving into the largest port gateway market on both coasts.

J.B. Hunt operates one of the largest company-owned fleets in North America with more than 100,000 intermodal containers, 18,500 tractors and 36,000 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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