J.B. Hunt doesn’t look troubled by last year’s downturn in intermodal business. The freight operator is raising its stakes in truck-rail operations with a new agreement with retail giant Walmart that will fuel expansion of J.B. Hunt’s big intermodal pipeline. The WSJ’s Will Feuer reports that J.B. Hunt will buy Walmart’s intermodal container and chassis fleets as part of a new multiyear shipping deal with the retailer. The agreement will bolster an intermodal operation that is J.B. Hunt’s largest business segment, with $6.2 billion in revenue last year. Intermodal at J.B. Hunt and across the freight sector took a hit last year. But the business is rebounding to start 2024, in part on resurgent West Coast container imports. Walmart is the largest U.S. importer by volume, with around 900,000 boxes a year, according to Journal of Commerce and PIERS data, likely putting J.B. Hunt on track to expand its business.

• Walmart says it reached its goal of removing 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide from its supply chain six years ahead of schedule. (Chain Store Age)

Western sanctions against Russia are expanding, but so is the Kremlin’s war machine. Western officials and experts say the measures imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine will create serious problems for the country, but the restrictions have hit more slowly than they had hoped. The WSJ’s Laurence Norman and Georgi Kantchev report that Western countries this week will adopt new sanctions, and for the first time target companies from mainland China, in an effort to halt the supply of critical imports for the war. Over the past two years, Russia has used shell companies and neighboring countries to buy components for military use. And it has obtained a large number of old vessels operating under opaque ownership to circumvent a Western-imposed oil price cap. The ghost fleet of oil tankers helped Russia earn $15.6 billion from its oil exports in January, up from $11.8 billion last summer.

• The U.K. blacklisted Dubai-based tanker specialist Fractal Marine in a new round of sanctions. (TradeWinds)
• The U.K. sanctioned Dutch oil trader Niels Troost and his Swiss-based Paramount Energy & Commodities over Russian oil trade. (Financial Times)

Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. rose last month at the fastest annual rate since August. (WSJ)

A measure of manufacturing activity in the U.S. showed new factory orders in February growing at the fastest pace in more than 18 months. (MarketWatch)

The number of Americans who applied for new unemployment benefits in mid-February fell sharply to a five-week low. (MarketWatch)

AI-chip maker Nvidia is forecasting that sales would triple again in the current quarter. (WSJ)

Nestlé warned of slower sales growth this year as higher prices prompted shoppers to ease spending on packaged foods. (WSJ)

Lenovo is forecasting stronger PC demand later this year after the laptop maker’s quarterly sales expanded. (WSJ)

The large number of new containerships entering service are expected to help ocean carriers maintain regular service during the Red Sea crisis. (New York Times)

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw told employees the railroad remains “fully committed” to its strategy despite changes sought by activist investor Ancora. (Progressive Railroading)

Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper says the sale of freight forwarder DB Schenker to a Middle Eastern investor is growing more likely. (ShippingWatch)

India liberalized its aviation policy to permit foreign cargo airlines to operate out of all its international airports. (The Loadstar)

Fulfilment logistics provider ShipBob expanded revenue to $500 million last year in part through the rapid growth of TikTok’s social commerce business. (The Information)

Delivery Hero ended negotiations to sell its Foodpanda food delivery business in certain Southeast Asia markets. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Azerbaijan’s post office began delivering online orders from U.S. retail platforms. (Trend News Agency)

• Small businesses turned to alternative funding options like merchant cash advances in recent years. Such borrowing has now led to the deaths of some of these operations.
• After more than 20 years of debate, private-equity firms are about to be drafted into the fight against dirty money.
• With the potential for more business technology consolidation in 2024, CIOs say they’re worried about being sold bigger product suites at higher costs.
• 🎧 Listen to Ken Calwell, CEO of the organization behind the “He Gets Us” Jesus-focused ad campaign, discuss how he applied his corporate marketing experience to the nonprofit.

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at paul.page@wsj.com.

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @bylizyoung and @pdberger. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on X at @WSJLogistics.