Intermodal Service Scorecard : Spring 2024 September | 29
XIV . Other / Non-asset IMCs
The bottom line : Other IMCs as a group received an average score of 4.7 out of 5 points , down from 4.8 points in the fall 2023 survey but still within the excellent category .
In the “ other ” category : The catch-all “ other ” category covers asset-owning IMCs with fewer than 10,000 containers and non-asset brokers . Asset-owning IMCs in this category receiving votes consist of Alliance Shippers , Amazon ( the retailer ’ s third-party logistics business ), C . R . England , Matson Logistics and NFI Industries . Non-asset brokers receiving votes were Cornerstone Systems , Knichel Logistics , Mode Transportation , Paper Transport and Uber Freight .
CHART 14A
Excelling at the little things : Similar to the prior two surveys , the smaller asset-owning and non-assetbased IMCs are like a small , family-owned businesses that can provide a more personalized , hands-on experience — especially to shippers without the volume or scale to be a major client of the larger intermodal providers . The bigger companies might win on price , but the smaller , family-like relationship has a value in and of itself that might be attractive . Companies in the “ other ” category received 4.7 to 4.8 out of 5 points on customer service , equipment availability , on-time pickup and on-time delivery ( Chart 14A ). It ’ s not surprising the “ other ” intermodal providers received lower scores on technology ( 4.1 out of 5 ) and price competitiveness ( 4.0 out of 5 ) because companies such as J . B . Hunt have a distinct advantage in owning their containers . Even on technology and price , where non-asset brokers don ’ t have as much control as an asset-owning provider , they beat Hub Group and Schneider .
Shippers had a strong Alliance : Alliance Shippers stood out from the crowd in the category of “ other ” providers . Alliance is both an asset- and nonasset-based IMC with a combination of private temperature-controlled and trailer-on-flatcar units , but also access to non-asset , rail-owned container intermodal services . Its relationship with UP rivals that of Hub Group , Schneider , STG Logistics and Swift . Alliance received votes from 26 shippers and 24 of them named Alliance as the best intermodal provider . It received more first-place votes than Hub Group , Schneider , STG , Swift and any other non-asset IMC . Every Alliance customer gave the company a perfect score on customer service , was satisfied with performance and said the company met expectations on tender acceptance levels . Alliance had a net promoter score of 88 . www . spglobal . com | www . joc . com © 2024 S & P Global