Custom-branded Johnelle and Johnnie Bryan Vessels Lead Delivery on Company Commitment to Grow Capacity
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT), one of the largest supply chain solutions providers in North America, announced today that the cargo vessel Johnelle has docked at the Port of Everett in Washington, with more than 250 new containers reserved for the expansion of J.B. Hunt’s intermodal fleet.
The Johnnie Bryan, a second cargo vessel, is expected to dock at the Port of Hueneme in California next month with additional new containers. The two are part of a long-term, multi-vessel service agreement between J.B. Hunt and Swire Shipping Pte. Ltd. that will help expedite the overseas transport of new company containers and provide customers with a unique solution for accelerating international cargo movement from Asia.
"This is yet another example of our people listening to the needs of customers and developing a creative solution to efficiently deliver on their capacity needs,” said John Roberts, president and CEO of J.B. Hunt. “It is our honor to name two of the vessels helping us charter new waters this year after the original visionaries who knew the potential of what our company could be."
Under the agreement, J.B. Hunt will have ongoing cargo shipping opportunities available from the Shenzhen, Qingdao and Shanghai markets in China to ports in California and the Pacific Northwest. The planned moves will help customers alleviate supply chain challenges such as equipment dislocation and fluidity, dwell time and demurrage by streamlining the ocean transport and transloading process.
“We’re really solving for two very big challenges with this agreement,” said Darren Field, president of intermodal and executive vice president at J.B. Hunt. “First, we’re adding intermodal capacity, which will provide customers with more opportunity to leverage the cost-savings and sustainability benefits that J.B. Hunt Intermodal offers. Second, we’re greatly reducing the time it takes for customers’ freight originating overseas to be out for delivery in the U.S., something that has troubled the industry for years.”
Along with the support of additional vessel capacity, the Johnelle and Johnnie Bryan will continue transporting new J.B. Hunt containers overseas as they become available, delivering on the company’s commitment to grow its intermodal fleet to as many as 150,000 containers in the next three-to-five years. J.B. Hunt’s industry-leading intermodal fleet currently includes more than 109,000 53’-containers and 6,000 tractors.
Intermodal service offers both cost savings and sustainability benefits when compared to traditional over the road transport, reducing a shipment’s carbon emissions by as much as 60%. In 2021, J.B. Hunt avoided an estimated 3.5 million metric tons of CO2e emissions by converting over-the-road loads to intermodal. The company’s industry-leading J.B. Hunt 360°® digital freight marketplace was one of the first to integrate intermodal service options and continues to expand efficiency capabilities.