J.B. Hunt 2023 Year in Review
Throughout 2023, J.B. Hunt put major focus and effort into further strengthening our company’s core foundations of people, technology and capacity to support our mission of creating the most efficient transportation network in North America. The investments we’ve made in each of our foundations helped us secure a spot in the top 300 of the Fortune 500 list for the first time.
But we really put a special emphasis on taking care of our people this year – the foundation that connects our capacity and technology to our customers while making J.B. Hunt the exceptional logistics provider that it is. That emphasis was encapsulated by our President, Shelley Simpson, who visited over 90 J.B. Hunt locations to hear from our people directly and learn how we’re cultivating a Customer Value Delivery® (CVD) mindset on the frontlines.
There’s a lot of reasons to celebrate the year – check out what we were able to achieve in 2023!
Launch of Quantum
J.B. Hunt, together with BNSF Railway, launched Quantum – a breakthrough intermodal service that accommodates service-sensitive highway freight needs. The Quantum team is made up of integrated J.B. Hunt and BNSF operators to make aligning forecasts for dray, container and rail capacity with customer needs quicker and easier.
It's anticipated that customers who utilize Quantum can expect up to 95 percent on-time delivery rates and delivery times around a day faster than traditional intermodal service.
Obtained New Brokerage Operations
This year, J.B. Hunt acquired the brokerage operations of BNSF Logistics. The acquisition expanded our full truckload, flatbed, temp-controlled, drayage, expedited and less-than-truckload services – this service expansion positions us to offer solutions to a larger and more diverse group of customers.
Setting New Standards
Last year, J.B. Hunt, Convoy and Uber Freight formed the Scheduling Standards Consortium (SSC). This year, the SSC reached a new milestone with the publication of its Technical Standard for developing scheduling application programming interface (API) for transportation management systems (TMS).
The new Technical Standard will help optimize transportation processes for a more cohesive movement of goods as well as make it easier to book and manage appointments – creating new operational efficiencies for our customers and the industry at large.
J.B. Hunt 360°® Advancements
We have put a lot of work into optimizing the J.B. Hunt 360 platform this year to create a better experience for users overall. Some of the standout capability advancements include:
- Expanded access to our J.B. Hunt 360box® program within the J.B. Hunt 360 platform and introduced J.B. Hunt 360 Tours to make for a more convenient user experience – enabling carriers to book multiple loads at once based on the load type, first stop and final destination.
- Enabled customers to view high-level tracking information utilizing a 23-digit universal tracking number. The number increases tracking visibility because it can be shared with anyone who needs tracking information and is searchable on jbhunt.com or Google without needing to log onto the platform.
Intermodal and Cross-Border Milestones
The capacity solutions available in J.B. Hunt 360 have expanded to include our industry-leading intermodal services and create more opportunities for value creation. By using our Dynamic Quote API, customers can retrieve on-demand spot market quotes for freight, including intermodal transport.
Also, we put in the work this year to expand our cross-border freight capabilities. J.B. Hunt, in collaboration with BNSF Railway and the largest rail provider in Mexico, GMXT, will offer a new intermodal service between Monterrey, Silao-Bajio and Pantaco-Mexico City regions, key markets in Northern and Central Mexico, through the Eagle Pass, Texas border gateway. Scheduled to begin in early 2024, the service creates new opportunities for customers to grow in the expanding Mexico markets.
Expanded Drop-And-Hook Freight
Our drop-and-hook freight brokerage program, J.B. Hunt 360box, only continues to grow – providing more flexible drop capacity to customers than ever before. In 2023 alone, we expanded our pool to include more than 16,000 available trailers and outperformed the market compared to other truckload offerings.
Stable Dedicated Contract Services® Offerings
J.B. Hunt Dedicated Contract Services teams didn’t back down from a challenging year and continued delivering comprehensive solutions to our customers. We continued strong sales despite the freight environment, provided consistency in service to keep customers’ transportation on track and held onto the title of largest dedicated logistics provider in North America.
Greater Final Mile Services® Reach
We extended our Final Mile Services reach and specialized furniture LTL capabilities with the addition of a Pacific Northwest terminal. The new terminal connects shippers located almost anywhere in the U.S. to our delivery capabilities in the Pacific Northwest. With these advancements, it’s no surprise that we were nominated for Furniture Today’s ‘Best Logistics Provider’ for the third year in a row.
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Sustainability on the Move
This year, J.B. Hunt published our second Sustainability Report. A few highlights from the report that examines our 2022 operating year include:
- Over 3.5 million empty miles avoided by drivers utilizing the J.B. Hunt 360 platform.
- Avoided an estimated 3.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by converting over-the-road loads to intermodal.
- 29,000+ metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions avoided through continued fleet modernization and improved fuel efficiency.
ELEVATION 2.0
At J.B. Hunt, our core mission is to create efficiency. We’re always looking for new ways to improve operations and drive productivity for the company.
That’s why we invest in employees’ ideas through initiatives like ELEVATION – an open forum for employees to submit their thoughts on how to create company improvements. We received over 6,000 ideas this year during our ELEVATION 2.0 initiative and plan to utilize approved submissions to enact people-forward innovations company-wide.
Bringing People Together
Our events bring teams together – whether that’s to celebrate internal accomplishments or give back to our communities at large. Some of the fantastic events our people attended in 2023 include:
- Million Mile Awards – 369 company drivers were awarded more than $2.6 million in safe driving bonuses for achieving one-plus million miles driven without a preventable accident.
- Truck Driving Championship – two of our company drivers were contestants in the national competition this year.
- Wreaths Across America 10 Year Anniversary – delivered 52 loads of wreaths to cemeteries across the nation, which is approximately 355,000 wreaths in total.
- Adopt-A-Class – donated $35,000 in school supplies to 35 classrooms. Thanks to our drivers we’ve facilitated over $270,000 in donations to 290 classrooms since the start of the program in 2013.
Focusing On Drivers
Safety isn’t just a standard at J.B. Hunt, it’s part of our culture. We take pride in employing top-notch drivers who are committed to providing the safest transportation services possible for customers.
Company driver Chuck Barrett achieved five million safe miles driven, becoming the third J.B. Hunt driver to reach the milestone. And J.B. Hunt driver Andrew Waits was honored as a Goodyear Highway Hero – an award that recognizes professional truck drivers who step in harm's way to help others in need on the open road.
More Employee Initiatives
The J.B. Hunt Scholarship Program for Families is an application-based scholarship program available to children or grandchildren of eligible J.B. Hunt employees. For 2023, the program was able to gift 100 students a total of $250,000 in scholarships. We invest in our employees and their families at J.B. Hunt to make sure they feel supported in their positions – because empowered employees create strong solutions.
Driving Value in 2023 and Beyond
As J.B. Hunt accelerates into the future, we will remain committed to investing in our core foundations and delivering exceptional value as we strive to be the best logistics company for our customers. Keep your freight moving now and into the future with a logistics provider that is forward thinking in each of the customized solutions they build – fill out our form to connect with a J.B. Hunt representative!