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11/8/2023
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and BNSF Railway Co. have launched Quantum, an intermodal service that will accommodate service-sensitive highway freight needs of customer supply chains, J.B. Hunt officials said in a press release.
Quantum solutions are customized, taking into account a customers' service expectations, transit requirements and operational procedures. Quantum customers can expect up to 95% on-time delivery service and about a day quicker transit time than traditional intermodal service, J.B. Hunt and BNSF officials said.
The Quantum team is comprised of J.B. Hunt and BNSF operators at a new intermodal innovation center at BNSF's headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.
"Quantum allows customers with service-sensitive freight to benefit from the cost savings of intermodal, while reducing their carbon footprint and maintaining the level of service and consistency needed in their supply chains,” said Darren Field, president of intermodal at J.B. Hunt.
Recent efforts by J.B. Hunt and BNSF to improve intermodal service efficiency helped lay the groundwork for Quantum, according to the release. These included plans from J.B. Hunt to grow intermodal capacity to as many as 150,000 containers in the next few years, while BNSF committed to creating additional capacity at existing intermodal facilities in the near term and building the Barstow International Gateway, a new master planned rail facility in Southern California.
J.B. Hunt estimates that as many as 7 million to 11 million loads of freight could be converted from truck to intermodal service.
In September, J.B. Hunt purchased the brokerage operations of BNSF subsidiary BNSF Logistics. The name Quantum is a nod to the efforts of J.B. Hunt and BNSF (then the Santa Fe Railway) to bring rail and trucking together into a streamlined service in 1989.