J.B. Hunt Launches West Coast Transload Service

J.B. Hunt 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 transloading operation, located minutes from Interstate 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 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.

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, in a press release. "We are providing customers with a complete solution that not only alleviates those challenges, [but] 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 transloading into domestic trailing equipment supported by its company fleet.

“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 services will be important for our customers when uncertainties remain pervasive.” 

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.