J.B. Hunt is set to acquire a portion of BNSF Logistics, the companies announced on Friday.
BNSF Logistics is a branch of BNSF Railway and handles logistic services for full truckload, flatbed, temp-controlled, drayage, expedited, and LTL to a sector of the railway’s customers. The warehouse, retail specialty, heavy-haul and project services of BNSF Logistics were not included in the deal with J.B. Hunt.
“As we continue to work with BNSF Railway to develop solutions that drive value for customers, we recognized a unique opportunity to combine the companies’ efforts to serve the transportation market with 3PL services and leverage the investments J.B. Hunt has made in our technology platform, J.B. Hunt 360°,” J.B. Hunt CEO John Roberts said in a statement. “This acquisition is another step forward in our mission to create the most efficient transportation network in North America.”
“This agreement with J.B. Hunt reflects our companies’ shared commitment to provide industry-leading intermodal service to our customers,” BNSF CEO Katie Farmer said in a statement. “This continues more than 30 years of partnership between BNSF and J.B. Hunt and builds on our [March 2022] announcement to further integrate our joint services.”
The brokerage operations of BNSF Logistics will be integrated into J.B. Hunt’s current Integrated Capacity Solutions. J.B. Hunt will be funding the deal using existing cash. Terms of the deal were not released, but it is expected to close before the end of the year, reported the American Journal of Transportation.
Once the transaction is complete, J.B. Hunt will provide third-party logistic services for BNSF Railway.
“BNSF Logistics has shown strong performance in serving customers of all sizes,” said Brad Hicks, executive vice president of people and president of Highway Services at J.B. Hunt. “Complemented with our best-in-class intermodal and J.B. Hunt 360box power-only service offering, this acquisition will provide a compelling value proposition for customers, growth opportunities for J.B. Hunt and greater service capabilities for BNSF Logistics’ employee and agent model.”