J.B. Hunt Transport Services hauled a record number of intermodal loads in the third quarter, but service issues and cost headwinds have constrained margins. After two years of declining returns, the company may be on the verge of a pricing inflection.

Company management told investors Tuesday at the Stephens annual investment conference in Nashville, Tennessee, that rail service in the eastern network is excellent. However, it continues to see hiccups on transcontinental lanes, given a surge in imports at West Coast ports. Some shippers diverted shipments to the U.S. this year to exclude the possibility of a prolonged strike at East and Gulf Coast ports. While there were only brief labor disruptions in early October, a permanent resolution has not yet been reached.

In the third quarter, J.B. Hunt's (NASDAQ: JBHT) transcontinental loads were up 7% year-over-year and up by a double-digit percentage on eastbound lanes out of Southern California. J.B. Hunt's rail partner in the West, BNSF (NYSE: BRK.B), saw a 19% year-over-year increase in intermodal container moves during the third quarter and is still seeing mid-teens increases so far in the fourth quarter.

Container imports at the West Coast's largest ports reached nearly 1.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units in August, a more than 25% year-over-year increase.