FORT WORTH, Texas and PHOENIX — The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) and Swift Transportation Co., Inc. announced they will offer seamless transportation services for perishable commodities.
Effective immediately, the two companies will initially provide seamless service for temperature-controlled commodities moving between the West Coast, the Midwest and the Southeastern United States. BNSF will provide boxcar transportation services for long-haul moves, while SWIFT will provide over- the-road transportation for short-haul moves. Both companies will coordinate any transload and cross-dock moves that may be necessary.
“BNSF is proud to work with SWIFT in an effort to make temperature- controlled shipping easier for our new and existing customers,” says Chuck Schultz, BNSF executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “Today, many shippers are hesitant to use a rail/truck transportation package because of the complexity of having to coordinate with multiple parties. We hope to make the transportation process seamless by providing one point of contact to make bi-modal shipping easier and more economical. As a result of the opportunity in this market segment, we will be evaluating possibilities for expanding our service offerings.”
Jerry Moyes, SWIFT chairman and chief executive officer, stated, “We are pleased to be in this partnership with BNSF. We see a significant opportunity in this market segment. By working together, we can create service packages which will build on the strengths of both truck and rail transportation.”
Moyes added, “This new offering is an extension of the programs that we presently operate with BNSF; namely our intermodal service between the Midwest, Texas and the West Coast, and our I-5 RoadRailer train operating between Los Angeles, Calif. and Portland, Ore. This new service will not require additional capital expenditures on Swift’s part. We will draw on our current fleet of 530 refrigerated trailers. This operation will provide additional loads for our regional and temperature-controlled fleets operating in the Midwest and Southeast.”
A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE: BNI – news), BNSF operates one of the largest rail networks in North America, with 33,500 route miles of track covering 28 states and two Canadian provinces. BNSF is an industry leader in Web-enabling a wide variety of customer transactions. The railway moves more intermodal traffic than any other rail system in the world, is America’s largest grain-hauling railroad, and hauls enough coal to generate more than 11 percent of the electricity produced in the United States.
Headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz., Swift Transportation Co., Inc. is the largest publicly held motor carrier in the United States with regional operations throughout the continental United States.