Knight-Swift Announces New Rail Contract

PHOENIX – City-based Knight-Swift Transportation, one of the nation’s largest haulage and logistics groups, has announced it will begin a new intermodal partnership with Union Pacific Railroad (UP), starting January 1st.

Knight-Swift is the third largest truckload carrier in the US and sends some 200,000 trailer and container loads via rail annually. Although previously allied with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (BNSF), the company sees the agreement with Union Pacific as being key to future expansion.

“The UP network is strong in some of the Texas markets where we have a heavy trucking presence such as San Antonio and El Paso,” Dustin Ohlman, vice president of intermodal operations for Knight-Swift told the Journal of Commerce news site, JOC.com. “We also have a very strong presence near Salt Lake City, Denver, and Portland, where we think this partnership with UP will open up new business opportunities to serve customers.”

Although rail networks have struggled recently with service problems across the nation, Ohlman said this didn’t affect contract negotiations. Rather, the decision to switch to Union Pacific is based on the strength of UP’s intermodal network in key US markets.

Ohlman said Knight-Swift saw the new contract as an opportunity to provide increased capacity to shippers on the Interstate 5 corridor between Los Angeles and Seattle-Tacoma. He said this is one of the busiest lanes for Knight Transportation and Swift Transportation, the company’s two truckload divisions, but capacity is tight and Union Pacific’s strong western network will open new options for shippers.

“Union Pacific is committed to growing our business. Knight-Swift is one of the top trucking firms in North America and we’re excited they’ve selected us for their intermodal transportation solutions," Robynn Tysver, a Union Pacific spokesperson, told Patch.

Whilst BNSF’s transcontinental rail lines mirror Interstate 40 through Arizona, moving freight between the west coast and midwest via Flagstaff, Union Pacific’s lines run via Phoenix and Tucson. Once operational the new agreement will give Southern Arizona businesses direct local rail access to all parts of the US.

Knight-Swift was formed by the merger of the Knight and Swift trucking companies in 2017. Although separate entities at the time the companies have been headquartered in Phoenix since 1966. The company serves the US, Mexico and Canada via a fleet of 19,000 trucks, 58,000 trailers, and employs more than 24,000 people.

Knight Transportation is based at North 19th Street whilst Swift Transportation is based at South 75th.

Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, Union Pacific is the second largest railroad company in the US, running more than 8,000 locomotives across some 32,000 miles of track.