Crowley Maritime brings Jarvis International Freight into the fold

In what it described as part of an effort to extend its logistics services into new industries and geographic areas, Crowley Maritime Corporation said this week it has acquired Jarvis International Freight Inc., a Houston-based freight forwarding, export packing and logistics company primarily serving the energy, oilfield and mining industries.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Crowley officials said Jarvis will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Crowley and remain in Houston.

Crowley said Jarvis provides forwarding and logistics services and value-added capabilities, including engineering, procurement, construction support, and project management. They added that ongoing projects expected to continue under Crowley include U.S. Government export packing and freight forwarding of air and ocean shipments; drilling projects in Belize, Brazil and Madagascar; civil construction in Equatorial Guinea; and oilfield work in Algeria.

And Jarvis’ standard services are comprised of inland, air and sea freight, and import Customs and documentation services. The company’s inland freight is coordinated throughout North America by truck, rail, ship or air, and direct air shipments are made to many global destinations. Crowley said that Jarvis offers regular shipments by sea to noted international oil-field centers such as Aberdeen, Stavanger, Rotterdam, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Singapore, and it is also a Customs broker with bonded warehouse capabilities.

A Crowley spokesperson told LM there were various drivers for this deal.

“In 2010 Crowley sought to strategically expand its logistics capabilities in the U.S.,” said the spokesperson. “We focused on Houston and surrounding areas because they offered Crowley significant opportunities to serve businesses in the energy, oilfields and mining industries.”

What’s more, bringing Jarvis into the fold provides myriad shipper benefits, according to the spokesperson, including the addition of mining, oilfield and energy logistics capabilities, which allows Crowley to serve new customers in these industries and these customers may in turn benefit from the company’s other complementary services. These additions also allow Crowley to offer existing customers a more comprehensive service package, and the new Houston-based location now also will serve as a central hub for its operations in Central America, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.

Jarvis has 85 employees and hundreds of customers.

Prior to this acquisition, Crowley was already serving the energy, oil field, and mining industries in many ways, primarily with marine transportation and project management and not so much with logistics, said the spokesperson, whom added that this acquisition allows Crowley to now offer a full suite of complementary services, including logistics, to both existing clients and new ones in these industries. Crowley has also served the mining sector in many ways, including several years of service working for Cominco in Alaska.

In terms of the competitive advantages of this deal for Crowley, the spokesperson said that the main ones are:
-the expansion of logistics services into new industries and geographic areas;
-serving new customers in these industries with our logistics and complementary services; and
-offering a more complete service package to existing customers.

“Adding Jarvis to the Crowley family of companies strengthens our position in the petroleum and energy industries - and will increase the opportunities for us to take on more logistically complex projects for these customers,” said Steve Collar, senior vice president and general manager of Crowley&#82#8217;s logistics group, in a statement. “Jarvis is known for providing exceptional service in challenging geographic locations. I am optimistic that this acquisition will provide us with the opportunity to expand Crowley’s end-to-end services to these markets.”