Surface Transportation

UP, J. B. Hunt voted best intermodal providers in H2 2025

By Ari Ashe

Union Pacific Railroad( UP) and J. B. Hunt Transport Services were voted the top railroad and domestic intermodal provider, respectively, for the second half of 2025, according to the latest Journal of Commerce Intermodal Service Scorecard.

Overall, more than 90 % of respondents were satisfied with domestic intermodal service between July 1 and

Dec. 31, 2025, according to the survey of more than 145 shippers and asset-based and non-asset-based intermodal marketing companies( IMCs). The ISS is published twice a year. Railroads saw the biggest improvement, with 91.3 % of respondents satisfied with performance during last year’ s peak season, up from 77.5 % during the same period of 2024.

Intermodal providers overall, whether asset- or nonasset-based, also received higher scores. Just under 94 % of shippers were satisfied with IMC performance, up from 90.9 % during the peak season of 2024. The survey results included responses from 100 shippers.

“ In the last six months our volume has been slipping, but Hunt has always provided sufficient equipment,” one shipper wrote in the survey.“ They have gone so far as offering to reduce accessorial charges when we run into problems receiving loads at destination, which is a sign that they value our business.”

J. B. Hunt received 55.9 % when shippers were asked to name the best IMC in the second half of 2025. Assetlight and non-asset IMCs came in second with 29 % of

UP edged out rival BNSF for the top railroad for the second consecutive survey. Ian Dewar Photography via Getty Images

58 Journal of Commerce | March 2, 2026 www. joc. com