Transportation provider J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. today said it has purchased Walmart’s intermodal container and chassis fleets, and has entered into a multi-year intermodal service agreement to haul the retail giant’s shipments.
By increasing the companies’ volume and capacity commitments, the deal enables the development of comprehensive intermodal solutions to drive long-term value for both organizations, Lowell, Arkansas-based J.B. Hunt said.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The two companies have worked together for decades on providing efficient transportation solutions, Spencer Frazier, executive vice president of sales and marketing at J.B. Hunt, said in a release. Walmart also pointed to the long history between the two companies. “Walmart’s long history of working with J.B. Hunt has many milestones of innovation and growth. This agreement will strengthen our commitment to delivering goods at an every day low cost to our customers and members,” Fernando Cortes, senior vice president of transportation at Walmart, said.
According to J.B. Hunt, the deal plays to its strength as one of the largest company-owned intermodal fleets in the world. The company calls itself a leader in converting over-the-road shipments to intermodal, which reduces a shipment’s carbon footprint by an average of 60%.
The move follows other recent investments in that area by J.B. Hunt, which in 2023 teamed with BNSF Railway to launch a premium intermodal service called Quantum, two months after acquiring BNSF’s truck brokerage operations. The two companies had also created a 2022 joint initiative to improve capacity in the intermodal marketplace.
