Schneider (CCJ Top 250, No. 6) next month will launch new continuous rail service between points in Mexico and Texas and points in the Southeastern United States – the result of recently announced connection between CSX Corp. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC).
The new intermodal service connects growing markets in Mexico and Texas with Florida and Georgia, "and it will transform the intermodal landscape,” said Schneider Executive Vice President and Group President of Transportation and Logistics Jim Filter. "It will be especially useful for shippers looking to diversify their transportation solutions and support and fortify nearshoring strategies.”
This new service is also a step in Schneider’s ambitious sustainability goal of doubling its Intermodal capacity, significantly reducing carbon emissions and promoting greener logistics solutions. Schneider’s intermodal solutions offer a 62% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to Tier 5 truckload transportation.
[Related: Optimizing rail and truck as freight partners]
"By providing more efficient options and routes for Schneider’s current and future customers, we are bringing new capacity to supply chains and taking trucks off the road," said CPKC Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer John Brooks. "Our team is excited to create this truck-competitive service with Schneider and to expand on our shared success.”
Clearing customs in-transit via rail and avoiding a hand-off at the border eliminates stops in route that can expose freight to theft, and CPKC’s proprietary Laredo train bridge crossing has been the only intermodal service unaffected by shutdowns at the U.S.-Mexico border.
[Related: J.B. Hunt boss: Zero emissions not a bad thing, but shippers don't want to fund it]
Trucking's transition to rail
On-highway transport has more deeply embraced its railroad partners post-pandemic.
Schneider last April started offering intermodal service on the then-newly merged CPKC, which connects the upper Midwest of the United States and Mexico, becoming a strategic intermodal carrier on CPKC’s north-south flagship intermodal service between Chicago and all major points in Mexico.
J.B. Hunt (No. 3) in February acquired Walmart’s intermodal assets, including Walmart’s operational intermodal container and chassis fleets, tying the two companies together via multi-year intermodal service agreement that the two companies say increases their respective current volume and capacity commitments and enables the development of comprehensive intermodal solutions.
J.B. Hunt is seeking to convert more over-the-road shipments to intermodal, reducing a shipment’s carbon footprint by an average of 60%.
