Intermodal Network Update for Friday, September 2, 2022

Date
Sep 2, 2022

OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE
BNSF's aggressive service recovery efforts are generating improved network performance as we move into September. Average car velocity increased versus the prior week and exceeded last month's average by nearly 6%. Our best single-day velocity of the year was achieved multiple times this week. In line with our total volume increasing for the fourth straight week, we also had our best performance in carload delivery in August for the year. Local service compliance also increased versus the previous week, and terminal dwell improved by over 7% versus the prior month.

As a reminder, we are ending our temporary permit embargo for shipments destined to California on Sunday, September 4. We will continue to work collaboratively with individual customers as needed to manage traffic flows so that we can build on the positive momentum gained during the embargo.

LABOR BARGAINING UPDATE
Since the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) issued its recommendations on August 16, 2022, the railroads have been actively engaged with our unions to reach a voluntary agreement. Tentative agreements have been reached with five unions, the Transportation Communications Union/IAM, Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the American Train Dispatchers Association, which together represent more than 21,000 rail employees.

The railroads will continue working with the remaining seven unions toward agreements based on the PEB's recommendations. We remain hopeful that we will be able to reach agreements with all unions as quickly as possible and before the expiration of the cooling-off period on September 16.

SERVICE UPDATE
BNSF continues to confront significant challenges associated with congestion at key inland intermodal facilities, primarily Logistics Park Chicago (LPC), Logistics Park Kansas City (LPKC), and our Alliance Intermodal Facility in north Texas. An outbreak of severe weather brought high winds to parts of the Chicago area on Monday, with multiple measuring stations recording gusts of nearly 80 miles per hour. The storms also disrupted our operations when high winds caused a 4-hour outage at LPC on Monday.

Congestion at our inland facilities has been driven by elongated street turn times impacting chassis availability and extremely high dwell times at LPC, LPKC, and Alliance. With elevated inventories resulting from the slow pick-up of shipments, we remain focused on evaluating and implementing additional measures to drive greater efficiency and productivity. This may require the additional metering of some intermodal freight originating out of Southern California.

We remind our intermodal customers that prompt pick-up of shipments will help improve traffic flows, reduce lot congestion, and provide the space needed for processing inbound freight as expeditiously as possible. We greatly appreciate those customers who can implement flexible receiving hours this holiday weekend to assist carriers.

As a reminder, BNSF will offer a storage credit up to $1,000 for Alliance outgates of international containers from August 29th – September 5th.

BNSF has multiple tools available for customers to track their shipments. Please contact your BNSF marketing representative if you have any questions.

LABOR DAY OPERATING PLAN
BNSF will continue to operate Intermodal trains over the Labor Day holiday. However, due to lighter volumes of traffic and possible train consolidations, we anticipate that shipments from Monday, September 5 through noon on Wednesday, September 7 may experience delays of up to 24 hours. Connecting carriers who have reduced operations for the holiday may cause delays on interline traffic. Customer Support will maintain a limited staff on Labor Day. Normal coverage will resume on Tuesday, September 6.

All BNSF intermodal hubs will observe normal working hours during the holiday period, and we encourage customers to utilize our suite of web and mobile tools to track shipments.

SERVICE EXPECTATIONS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
Excessive, recording-breaking heat will continue across much of the West into the middle of next week, with high temperatures approaching 110 degrees in some locations. BNSF teams will conduct additional track inspections during the period and are prepared to respond to any heat-related service interruptions. We also continue to monitor the high risk for wildfires in the region, particularly in the Interior Northwest.

As always, we thank you for your business and appreciate the opportunity to serve as your transportation service provider. We welcome your feedback and questions.