J.B. Hunt Sues MercuryGate in IT System Dispute
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. has sued transportation management systems provider MercuryGate International for $3.1 million, claiming that the vendor's information technology system didn’t work properly.
Hunt filed the suit last month in U.S. District Court in Arkansas, claiming that “the software is virtually useless for all excepting approximately 1%” of the business it was supposed to support at the carrier’s brokerage unit.
Hunt also said MercuryGate “failed to timely provide the numerous essential features and functionality” as stipulated in the agreement that was terminated by Hunt in June.
MercuryGate CEO Monica Wooden told Transport Topics that she believes her company’s system was used to facilitate a rewrite of J.B. Hunt’s IT system.
She noted that Hunt used the system for nearly two years before deciding to sue.
“Our track record speaks for itself,” she said. “We have been delivering transportation software to the logistics market for many years. We have never had a claim like this.”
In the second quarter, the carrier, which ranks No. 3 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers, took a $4.4 million charge in its brokerage unit, known as Integrated Capacity Solutions, for “technology redevelopment” and personnel-related costs.
“If business users want something different, so be it,” she added. “That’s a business decision on their part. Over the years, the software has been impeccable.”
Wooden said she plans to sit down with Hunt officials to discuss the case, though no date has been set.
