West Coast Ports
Special Report
IMC satisfaction with Class I rail service fell to 77 % in H2 2024 from 91 % in H1 . Dewar Photography / Shutterstock . com forced retailers to pull forward some volume as well as reroute away from those ports in favor of Los Angeles-Long Beach ,” said a second IMC executive . “ Without that , peak intermodal volumes could have been tepid at best .”
In the most recent Journal of Commerce Intermodal Service Scorecard survey , 77.4 % of intermodal providers said they were satisfied with the performance of North American Class I railroads in the second half of 2024 , down from 91.1 % in the first half .
Almost 91 % of shippers said they were satisfied with the intermodal providers in the second half of the year , approximately on par with 90.4 % in the first half , according to the survey . More than 250 participants responded to the fall survey , conducted between Nov . 1 and Dec . 31 .
The results show that while IMCs felt that service on the rails was slower and less reliable in the second half of the year compared with the first half — when volume was lower — their shippers did not experience any significant supply chain disruptions . The IMCs and railroads successfully insulated shippers from congestion in Los Angeles , whereas disruptions in 2020 and 2021 had a profound negative impact on shippers .
Legit comparison ?
saw volume spikes that pushed rail container dwell times to a two-year high in September and October , no significant terminal congestion was reported in Chicago , Dallas , Kansas City or Memphis .
Gate reservations in Los Angeles were hard to procure in September and October , but delays were measured in days , not weeks , according to IMC executives . They also noted BNSF and Union Pacific did a better job communicating than four years ago , which in turn made it possible to keep shippers informed .
“ The [ East and Gulf coast ] work stoppage [ in October ]
Fewer US intermodal railcars idled during late-2024 volume surge
Rolling four-week average of US Class I intermodal railcars idling for 48 hours
Intermodal rail cars idling
2,000
1,000 1,500
1,000
500 |
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Week 1 |
Week 12 |
Week 23
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Week 34 |
Week 45 |
L Average rail performance Pandemic-era congestion ( 2020-2022 )
Current Year
Notes : Average rail performance represents 2017 – 19 and 2023 Source : US Surface Transportation Board
© 2025 S & P Global
L
Despite the recent kudos for railroads , some market players question the value of pandemic-era comparisons , suggesting that 2024 ’ s peak season aligns more closely with pre-pandemic trends .
“ It ’ s probably better to compare this year with a more ‘ normal ’ peak season than to compare it to the surge of COVID-19 , as that seems an apples-to-oranges comparison ,” another IMC executive said . There is evidence to support both sides of the question . Railroads hauled approximately 50,000 domestic containers from Los Angeles to Chicago in October — a record for any month — and then 45,000 in November , the highest volume for that month in history , according to the Journal of Commerce ’ s analysis of data from the Intermodal Association of North America . The Los Angeles – Chicago route is the largest by volume annually for domestic and international intermodal .
However , the US intermodal fleet has expanded by more than 80,000 containers , or 30 %, in the last four years , according to an analysis of data from PIERS , a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S & P Global . Some argue that this capacity growth may explain the smoother peak season despite the volume spike out of Los Angeles . Another barometer of success for the railroads is on-time performance .
During the pandemic , railroads were required to report weekly on-time performance data for intermodal to the US Surface Transportation Board , and the western railroads set their benchmark as 80 %.
Railroads are no longer required to report the metric to federal officials , but some IMCs question whether 80 % is too low of a standard as trucks can deliver a 90 % or better on-time performance on the highest volume lanes out of Los Angeles .
email : ari . ashe @ spglobal . com
30 Journal of Commerce | February 3 , 2025 www . joc . com