Newly-formed railroad Canadian Pacific Kansas City will rely on Schneider National for intermodal service under a deal announced Friday.
Schneider will act as the “strategic intermodal carrier” for CPKC’s north-south corridor between Chicago and all major points in Mexico, according to a release. The trucking carrier will start moving freight on CPKC’s network by mid-May.
Schneider President and CEO Mark Rourke in a press release described the partnership as a “natural fit.”
“Our 30-plus years operating in Mexico and broad portfolio of services will bring an intermodal service offering into and out of Mexico that is comparable to the speed and efficiency of shipping over the road, but with the added benefit of sustainability,” Rourke said in a statement.
The carrier also touted the deal as a sustainable solution for shippers, in addition to services such as truckload and brokerage. The company boasts that it saves 700 million pounds of CO2 annually by working with railroads that can move a ton of freight up to 500 miles on a gallon of fuel.
The agreement comes one week after Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern officially combined to become CPKC, the first transnational railroad to connect the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
In January, Schneider began a new West Coast intermodal arrangement with Union Pacific and has an existing relationship with CSX on the East Coast. Its intermodal fleet consists of 28,000 containers, and Schneider hopes to double its intermodal business by 2030.
The company reported $315.5 million in intermodal revenue in Q4 2022, a 1% drop YoY.
Sarah Zimmerman contributed to this report.
