newsworthy
Domestic intermodal
container traffic up for
sixth straight quarter
Domestic rail intermodal container volumes grew in the first
quarter by 10. 2 percent over 2012 levels, the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year double-digit gains for domestic container services, according to the Intermodal
Association of North America (IANA).
The gains in domestic container service, a chunk of it
coming from converting over-the-road truck traffic to
lower-cost, more fuel-efficient rail, fueled a 4.5-percent
overall year-over-year increase in intermodal volumes during the quarter, IANA said.
International container volumes in the quarter rose 3 percent year over year, with West Coast shipments rising at a
faster pace than East Coast traffic, IANA said. Part of that may
have been due to decisions by shippers and beneficial cargo
owners (BCOs) to divert international volumes to the West
Coast amid concern over a possible strike by longshoremen
on the East and Gulf Coasts. Despite several strike threats, a
work stoppage never occurred because waterfront management and the International Longshoremen’s Association
(ILA) reached a six-year contract agreement in early April.
While intermodal trailer volumes declined 6. 3 percent year
over year, it marked an improvement over the double-digit
year-over-year declines in the past two quarters, IANA said.
The lengths of haul of domestic and international movements showed “marginal but steady declines” in the quarter,
IANA said. It did not quantify the reductions. A typical intermodal move stretches between 1,200 and 2,000 miles.
However, railroads in recent years have shortened intermodal
stage lengths to between 750 and 1,000 miles, making the
service more competitive with truck.
Matthew K. Rose, chairman, president, and CEO of Fort
Worth, Texas-based BNSF Railway, said at the NASSTRAC
(National Shippers Strategic Transportation Council) conference in April that domestic intermodal traffic rose to 24 percent
of BNSF’s total volumes in 2012, up from 20 percent in 2006.
Last year, BNSF converted more than 30 truckers to intermodal
service, Rose said. This year, it’s added 14. In 2012, BCOs converted 100,000 units from over-the-road to BNSF, Rose said.
Shelly Simpson, president of the Integrated Capacity
Solutions unit of Lowell, Ark.-based J.B. Hunt Transport
Services, told the group that between 7 million and 11 million
shipments a year that are now moving on highways have the
potential to be converted to intermodal. Hunt touts itself as
the world’s largest user of intermodal services; for many years,
UPS was believed to hold the title, though records have never
been kept to quantify it. ;
newsmakers
The Warehousing Education and Research Council
has named the following logistics professionals to
its 2013–2014 board of directors: president –
Michael B. Wohlwend, vice president, SAP
Americas; vice president – Paul M. Avampato, vice
president, customer service and logistics North
America, Mondelez International; secretary-treas-urer – Sheila Benny, executive vice president,
Optricity Corp.; and past-president – Gregory J.
Javor, senior vice president, supply chain operations global logistics, Starbucks Coffee Co. … Pat
Cooney has joined global supply chain services
company UTi Worldwide Inc. as the new regional
vice president for sales and marketing in the Asia-Pacific region. … Intelligrated, an automated
material handling solutions
provider, has appointed Bob Wilson
vice president, international division. … Hytrol Conveyor Co. Inc.
has promoted Whitney Blackburn
to brand manager. … Hy-Tek
Material Handling has promoted
Tom Mann to president of the
Integrated Systems Division. … William O’Brien will
join Sedlak Management Consultants Inc., a supply
chain and distribution consulting firm, as presi-
dent. … Evan Rago has joined robotic industrial
truck company Seegrid Corp. as an application
engineer. ... Alex Rodriguez has been named
strategic account manager–Latin America for
Power Automation Systems. Doug Roth has also
joined the company to build and manage a partner
network of sales agents to promote the PAS auto-
mated storage and retrieval system solutions to
end-users in North America. … Kenco, a provider
of integrated logistics solutions, real estate servic-
es, and material handling equipment, has appoint-
ed Todd A. Johnson senior vice president of opera-
tions with Kenco Logistic Services.
… MavenWire, a King of Prussia,
Pa.-based provider of consulting,
hosting, training, and application
development in the supply chain
and logistics industry, has hired
Thomas Deakins as its new director
of business development for the
Americas. … Safelite AutoGlass, a vehicle glass
repair and replacement company, has appointed
Zeke Dexter regional supply chain manager in the
West and Matt Mulligan regional supply chain
manager for the East.
BLACKBURN
DEAKINS
