J.B. Hunt expands transload service in Pacific Northwest, Mexico border

Lowell-based carrier J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. announced Monday (Oct. 3) the expansion of its transloading service to include operations in Tacoma, Wash., and Laredo, Texas. Following this expansion, the service can accommodate four of the largest ocean ports and the largest land port of entry in the United States.

In November, the company opened its first transload facility in the New York metro area with port drayage, transloading and inland linehaul services. In July, the company opened a facility in Commerce, Calif., to support international cargo in the Los Angeles and Long Beach areas.

“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.”

The new operations will allow J.B. Hunt to transfer customers’ international freight to equipment for domestic transport using the company’s assets.

According to a news release, the Laredo site recently started operating as one of the first transloading facilities available after crossing the border to enter the United States. The location will provide access to growing nearshoring operations in Mexico while continuing to support inbound and outbound cross-border traffic. Freight entering and exiting the United States often requires transloading services because of regulation requirements, carrier and driver availability and domestic capacity demand.

The Tacoma facility, which is expected to open in November, will handle freight arriving at the Seattle and Tacoma ports and help relieve congestion resulting from the rise in international shipping demand. Also, the facility will complement a direct container-only joint service BNSF established in August between its Tacoma South facility and Chicago. Earlier this year, J.B. Hunt and BNSF announced a joint initiative to address intermodal capacity constraints.

Shares of J.B. Hunt (NASDAQ: JBHT) were trading Monday morning at $161.43, up $5.01 or 3.2%. In the past 52 weeks, the stock has ranged between $153.92 and $218.18.