J.B. Hunt to Take 3Q Charge Following Rail Decision

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.B. Hunt Transport Services will have additional costs of $6.5 million, or 10 cents a share, in its third-quarter earnings statement, after losing an arbitration dispute with BNSF Railway Co.

The results of the arbitration are confidential, but the company said in a statement that it believed the decision would allow the truckload/intermodal carrier and the railroad to continue their 15-year history of intermodal collaboration.

J.B. Hunt also said it estimated a reduction in fourth-quarter net earnings of about 2 cents a share due to an increase in purchased transportation expense.

The companies adopted a shipping agreement in 1991, under which BNSF hauled cargo between various cities, while J.B. Hunt make local pickups and deliveries, Bloomberg reported.

BNSF filed for arbitration last year in a bid to raise its share of the revenue, Bloomberg said.

“We are glad to have this proceeding behind us,” J.B. Hunt's Chief Executive Officer Kirk Thompson said in a statement. “[W]e expect to be able to continue to work with [BNSF] to make our relationship even stronger than it was before.”

J.B. Hunt is ranked No. 11 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.