Bruce Oakley Inc. of North Little Rock will purchase Oklahoma-based Johnston’s Port 33 Inc. for an undisclosed amount, the companies announced.
On Monday, Dennis Oakley, president of Oakley, called the addition of Port 33 a good fit, adding there are no plans to change any of Port 33’s operations. Port 33 employs about 130 people,he said.
Port 33, a wholly owned subsidiary of W.B. Johnston Grain Co. of Enid, Okla., operates four ports on the Arkansas River and lower Mississippi River, storing and handling dry bulk commodities that include fertilizer, pig iron, coal and petroleum products.
A release said the deal is expected to close Saturday. The port’s general manager, Steve Taylor, will continue with the operation, which was acquired in the early 1980s by Johnston Grain.
A company website said its locations include Johnston’s Port 33 and Port 33 South located near Inola, Okla., on the Verdigris River east of Tulsa; Johnston Terminal Muskogee at the Port of Muskogee; and Johnston’s of Chalmette and Gramercy in Louisiana.
Oakley said his company bought the Oklahoma facilities and will continue to manage the Louisiana facilities, which Port 33 managed and are owned by another company. He said the deal began as a result of a few phone calls “four or five months ago.”
“We’ve been dealing with these people on and off for 30 years. So we’ve known them a long time,” Oakley said.
Founded in 1968 in El Paso, Ark., Bruce Oakley Inc. today is a group of companies that includes barge lines, trucking, stevedoring, grain terminals, port operations and distribution of fertilizer. Bruce Oakley has river port operations at Dardanelle, Morrilton, North Little Rock and Pendleton on the Arkansas River; Caruthersville, Mo., on the Mississippi River; and in Shreveport on the Red River.
Gene Higginbotham, executive director of the Arkansas Waterways Commission, said Monday that the Port 33 location is the largest private terminal on the 445-mile McClellan-Kerr Navigation System, which runs from the Port of Catoosa near Tulsa,southeast along the Verdigris River to the Arkansas River and uses a canal to reach a section of the White River, where it merges with the Mississippi River.
He said the purchase will put Oakley at the start of navigation on the system, “which can generate a lot of business” for a company that offers diverse transportation services.
Higginbotham said Oakley bought a tow operator, Jantran Inc. of Rosedale, Miss., in 2011.
“Arkansas seems to be their big focus. It’s the market they know. Oklahoma is an extension of that,” Higginbotham said. “They’re basically expanding their boundaries. It’s a great move for them.”
Business, Pages 23 on 02/04/2014