Port installs new leadership, tonnage increases 37.5 percent year-to-date

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. –The Little Rock Port Authority (LRPA) installed new officers at its monthly board meeting. Melissa Hendricks will serve as Chair of the Board. She is the Foundation Director of the Centers for Youth and Families, Arkansas’s longest running nonprofit organization, which provides specialized prevention, intervention and treatment services that promote emotional and social wellness for children and their families in Arkansas. Greg Joslin will serve as Vice-Chair and Joe Bailey will serve as Treasurer.

“The Port of Little Rock is proud of the dedication and service of our Board of Directors, said Bryan Day,” executive director of the Little Rock Port Authority. “We are excited to announce that Melissa Hendricks will be the first female to hold the Chair position on our board. And, we look forward to her leadership as Board Chair, which we know will bring the same energy and tenacity that she has applied to make our community a healthier and economically stronger place to live and work.”

Clay McGeorge was appointed by Mayor Mark Stodola to a five-year term with the LRPA Board of Directors. McGeorge is the President of Jeffery Sand Company and has spent years utilizing and supporting Arkansas’s inland river system. He currently serves as the President-Elect of the Arkansas Ready Mix Concrete Association and as a Board Member of the Arkansas Good Roads Foundation. McGeorge also holds a position on the Board of First Tee of Central Arkansas.

The leadership changes of the LRPA Board are accompanied by increases in tonnage. ThePort of Little Rock followed a near-record month in June with continued success: 45 barges with a combined 70,000 tons of cargo were loaded and unloaded; 28 barges with more than 43,000 tons were worked at the slackwater dock; and an additional 17 barges were worked at the main river dock.

Logistic Services Inc. (LSI), the Port’s stevedore, handled a variety of commodities: steel coils, aluminum tees, bauxite, nepheline syenite, potash, rock, sand, urea, wet cake, and wire rod coils. LSI is on schedule and has worked 312 barges in 2018 – 80 more than by July of 2017. Likewise, overall tonnage is at 477,000, raised by 130,000 tons in the same time period last year. Terminal operations saw an increase in activity as well, with 67 railcars worked during July. LSI unloaded 23 boxcars at the warehouse, 11 cars at the packaging operation and 33 cars on the terminal yard.

“August started strong across the docks, and LSI expects to handle at least 45 barges again this month,” said Bryan Day, executive director of the LRPA. Day stated that “business for the Port of Little Rock continues to be very good, and we expect it will remain strong through the end of the year.”