Intermodal Service Scorecard : Spring 2024 September | 18
CHART 8A
VIII . Grading the IMCs : Overview
The bottom line : Intermodal shippers were incredibly pleased with their asset- or non-assetbased IMC in the first half of 2024 . The highest grades went to J . B . Hunt among the top assetowning carriers with asset-light and non-asset IMCs coming in second .
Satisfaction ratings : The overall customer satisfaction score for IMCs was 90 %, up from 84.7 % in the fall 2023 survey . This indicates that the intermodal networks worked as designed in the first half of the year ( Chart 8A ). Containers are available , trains are moving out on time , cargo isn ’ t left behind and the handoff between the train and the truck is smooth and predictable .
CHART 8B
For the purposes of the survey , all references to the “ other ” category or “ light-asset owning and non-asset brokers ” denote providers who are non-asset brokers or asset carriers who own less than 10,000 private containers .
A diverse sample : Responses to the survey came from a wide range of shippers , with 58.9 % of respondents shipping fewer than 100 loads per week and 41.1 % shipping more than 100 loads per week ( Chart 8B ). “ Large ” shippers moving more than 500 intermodal loads per week represented 15.6 % of respondents . In the last survey , 74.2 % of voters had fewer than 100 loads per week and 25.8 % shipped more than 100 loads per week with large shippers representing 6.1 % of the sample . The spring survey was tilted more toward larger shippers .
CHART 8C
The winner : J . B . Hunt won the overall vote for best IMC , named as the top intermodal provider by 54.6 % of shippers , although it was down from 57.6 % in the fall survey ( Chart 8C ). That J . B . Hunt ’ s vote was slightly below the last survey is of interest because the sample size tilted toward higher-volume shippers , although it received better scores on KPIs . The “ other ” asset-light and non-asset-based IMCs came in second with 26 % of the first-place votes . J . B . Hunt and the asset-light , non-asset-based IMCs came in first and second in the last survey , too .
More rail conversions : It was peculiar to see that while 46.4 % of IMCs said their shippers put more freight on the highways , 45.3 % of shippers said they converted more freight to rail in the last 12 months . There isn ’ t a great explanation for this effect — perhaps it ’ s the book of business our IMCs handled compared with the sample pool of shippers . www . spglobal . com | www . joc . com © 2024 S & P Global