Crowley Maritime acquires Houston freight firm

Tom Crowley Jr., chairman, president and CEO of Crowley Maritime Corporation calls the just-announced acquisition of Jarvis International Freight, Inc. “a unique opportunity to extend our logistics services to new industries and geographic areas.”

Jarvis is a Houston-based freight forwarding, export packing and logistics company primarily serving the energy, oilfield and mining industries. Jarvis, founded in 1984, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Crowley and will continue to operate from its existing headquarters.

Jarvis provides forwarding and logistics services in addition to other value-added capabilities, including engineering, procurement, construction support, and project management. 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.

“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’s logistics group. “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.”

Jarvis’ standard services include inland, air and sea freight, as well as import Customs and documentation services. Inland freight is coordinated throughout North America by truck, rail, ship or air, and direct air shipments are made to many destinations around the world. Jarvis offers regular shipments by sea to noted international oil-field centers such as Aberdeen, Stavanger, Rotterdam, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Singapore.

Jarvis is also a Customs broker with bonded warehouse capabilities.

January 11, 2010