• TPM25
  • March 2-5, 2025 | Long Beach Convention Center

Ari Ashe

Journal of Commerce by S&P Global

Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail

Ari Ashe has more than a decade of journalism experience working in the busy newsrooms of Washington, DC. He earned two bachelor’s degrees at George Washington University and a master’s in broadcast journalism from Syracuse University. In 2006, he began his career with WTOP-FM in Washington, DC, a 24/7 all-news radio outlet. Beginning as a producer, he was the commuter transportation beat reporter from 2012 through 2015. He won an Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative journalism during the three-year stretch. In 2016, Ashe moved over to covering commercial transportation for Transport Topics, a publication of the American Trucking Associations, covering the business of trucking, railroads, and ocean carriers, including quarterly earnings reports and economic news affecting the industry. He joined the Journal of Commerce in 2018 and reports on the Southeast US ports, intermodal, and trucking.

Sessions With Ari Ashe

Monday, 3 March

  • 11:45am - 12:30pm (PST) / 03/mar/2025 07:45 pm - 03/mar/2025 08:30 pm

    TPM25 CEO Series: A Conversation with BNSF Railway's Katie Farmer

    BNSF Railway’s Barstow International Gateway represents a $1.5 billion investment into a 4,500-acre rail and logistics hub in Southern California — the first of its kind for a Class 1 railroad. It will streamline container movement by eliminating multiple drays on the highway, moving ocean containers directly by rail to Barstow for on-site transloading and transfer to outbound trains. If successful, Barstow could bring smoother operations for ocean carriers, faster turnarounds for shippers using 53-foot containers and chassis, and less reliance on owner-operators. It also could ease the pressure on the international intermodal network and marine chassis providers to handle volume that grew by double digits in 2024. In this session, Ari Ashe, senior editor for intermodal at the Journal of Commerce, will sit down with BNSF CEO Katie Farmer to discuss Barstow’s future and the larger picture of moving cargo out of West Coast ports and delivering a reliable service product to cargo owners.

  • 02:00pm - 02:45pm (PST) / 03/mar/2025 10:00 pm - 03/mar/2025 10:45 pm

    Preparing for the Next Surge in West Coast Intermodal Volumes
    Intermodal volume on international routes soared by double digits in 2024, with some lanes rising more than 30% out of West Coast ports compared to 2023. Despite the increased demand, there were no major service disruptions, chassis shortages, or spillover lots required at inland rail hubs. Additionally, no vessels were anchored outside Los Angeles or Long Beach. Delays did occur in transferring containers from ships to trains, however, and Southern California rail container dwell times hit two-year highs in September. Tacoma, Washington, also experienced multiple service disruptions due to surging volumes. So what went right — and what didn’t — in the communication among ocean carriers, terminal operators, and railroads during this period of heightened demand? This session will explore reasonable and unreasonable expectations shippers should have of their ocean carriers, terminal operators, and railroads in the handoff of containers, while delivering actionable insights that help shippers set their strategy for the next wave of intermodal demand.
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