Surface Transportation
Shippers satisfaction with IMCs remains above 90 %
Q: How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your IMC partners?
Percentage of vote
the vote. That category encompasses asset-light providers such as Alliance Shippers and C. H. Robinson Worldwide, who own some containers, and pure non-asset IMCs such as Mode Transportation and Uber Freight, among many others.
Shippers were asked to grade their IMC partners on a five-point scale, with five being the highest. J. B. Hunt received at least 4 out of 5 points in all categories except for pricing, while the asset-light and non-asset IMCs received at least 4 out of 5 in all categories except technology.
J. B. Hunt received an overall grade of 4.6 out of 5, while the asset-light and non-asset IMCs received a score of 4.5.
“ It’ s pretty rare when you can pick up the phone and be able to speak with the president of any company, but this is commonplace with InTek Freight and Logistics,” another shipper wrote.“ We value long-term relationships with our vendors, and with InTek, it goes beyond
Rail service satisfaction hits new high
Q: How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the railroads?
Percentage of vote
100 %
80 %
100 60 %
40 %
20 %
0 %
100 %
80 % 70 %
100 60 %
40 %
20 %
0 %
Spring 2023 Fall 2023 Spring 2024L Fall 2024 Spring 2025 Fall 2025
Source: Journal of Commerce survey
Spring 2023 Fall 2023 Spring 2024L Fall 2024 Spring 2025 Fall 2025
Source: Journal of Commerce survey
Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied
Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied
© 2026 S & P Global
© 2026 S & P Global
L
L a partnership; we feel like they are an extension of our transportation department.”
Schneider received the second-best overall score among large asset-owning intermodal providers at 3.7 out of 5; the category consists of providers with more than 10,000 privately-owned containers.
UP wins again
Union Pacific edged out rival BNSF Railway for the top railroad for the second consecutive survey, although the two traded first and second place in all the key performance indicators( KPIs).
When choosing among all the Class I railroads, 36.3 % of IMCs rated UP as the best railroad, while BNSF received 20.5 % of the vote. However, when the KPIs are included, the results show that the two railroads are virtually tied with one another atop the list of all railroads, outperforming the two eastern US railroads and two Canadian railroads.
It’ s the second consecutive survey where UP has outpaced most of its competitors, a stark change from only three years ago under former CEO Lance Fritz, who handed the reins over to current CEO Jim Vena in August 2023.
“ It’ s pretty rare when you can pick up the phone and be able to speak with the president of any company.”
In the last pre-Vena survey, only 17.1 % of IMCs were satisfied with UP’ s performance. In the latest survey, 80 % were satisfied, up from 53.7 % during the same period of 2024.
UP received an overall score of 4 out of 5 points in the latest survey. BNSF received a 4.1 out of 5, although the difference was less than a tenth of a point.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City( CPKC) struggled for the second consecutive survey, receiving an overall score of 2.7 out of 5 points, while 58.9 % of respondents voted it the lowest-performing railroad.
While IMCs generally praised CPKC on the high quality of its Mexico Midwest Express service between Mexico and Chicago, most respondents said the railroad struggled on other routes. Common complaints included the railroad providing good customer service for top partners such as Schneider in the US and Consolidated Fastfrate in Canada, but not paying enough attention to other IMCs.
“ CPKC is not customer-focused. Our marketing contact cannot help us with service issues,” one IMC wrote in the survey.“ Working with the CPKC is very frustrating trying to get things done.”
email: ari. ashe @ spglobal. com
60 Journal of Commerce | March 2, 2026 www. joc. com