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J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. kicked off the earnings reporting season on a sour note for the truckload industry, announcing profits dropped 6.8% year-over-year and missing the Bloomberg News consensus forecast of industry analysts.

Intermodal rail and trucking companies are competing to meet the transportation needs of e-commerce businesses while adapting to how these new supply chains differ from those of traditional brick-and-mortar retailers.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. announced it will spend $500 million over the next five years to enhance its operating systems, develop cloud infrastructure and create what it said would be “innovative and disruptive technologies” for use in its supply chain.

The truckload earnings season began with J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. announcing a 2.6% increase in profits year-over-year in the first quarter, mainly due to a one-time tax benefit that otherwise would have put the carrier behind 2016 earnings.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. opened an “enterprise sales branch” in Toronto, its first such office in Canada, the intermodal and truckload carrier said.

Intermodal and truckload carrier J.B. Hunt Transport Services posted gains in net income and revenue for the fourth quarter of 2016 and for the year, the Lowell, Arkansas-based company said Jan. 19.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. said Nov. 9 that it planned to add 500 to 700 trucks to its dedicated contract solutions unit and 100 to120 in its truckload division in 2017. Also, it will replace 1,100 trucks.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc., the first trucking company to report third-quarter earnings, said net income declined 5% to $109.4 million, or 97 cents, dragged down by weaker profit margins in all of its businesses except dedicated trucking.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. signed a service agreement with Trailer Bridge Inc. to combine resources between the mainland United States and Puerto Rico, the motor carrier announced Sept. 16.