This week on the Oakley Podcast, host Jeremy Kellett chats with Jordan Moore & Kell Shenep. Jordan is the VP of Oakley Grain and Kell is a purchasing manager for Bruce Oakley. During the episode, Jordan and Kell share their journeys in coming to Oakley, how the grain operation works for Bruce Oakley, the importance of the owner-operator in the entirety of the organization’s operations, what the future looks like for grain and fertilizer, and more.
Key topics in today’s conversation include:
- Oakley Update: Mark your calendar for the company party (1:49)
- Jordan and Kell’s journey to Oakley Trucking (7:30)
- From trucking to grain and fertilizer (12:31)
- The purchasing operation at Oakley (14:42)
- Oakley’s grain division (18:27)
- How the whole Oakley operation all works together (22:30)
- The impact of the owner-operator on Oakley’s business (26:31)
- What’s the future look like for the grain and fertilizer operations? (28:56)
Oakley Trucking is a family-owned and operated trucking company headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas. For more information, check out our show website: podcast.bruceoakley.com.
Transcription
Kell Shenep 00:12
It’s really kind of interesting sitting in Jordan. I see both. Just getting to see how Oakley operates everything that when I was in trucking I didn’t pay attention to my set of trucks and that was about it. I knew we were hauled in for Oakley fertilizer for Oakley grain, but, you know, now you kind of get to see the other side of it. And you get to appreciate even more being on our side more than customers now, how reliable Oakley Trucking is and really ties into, you know, what we used to hear preached by mainly and others on how important customer service is because now we’re saying now we’re saying, exactly.
Jeremy Kellett 00:49
Welcome to the Oakley podcast, trucking, business and family. This show is brought to you by Oakley trucking headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The purpose of this podcast is to communicate with Oakley owner operators and their families by giving them up to date information concerning Oakley trucking and the trucking industry. From business advice to safety updates to success stories. Also to give an insight to outside truck drivers that might be interested in joining the Oakley family. There’s Jeremy kellett director of recruiting here at Oakley trucking. I’m your host for this podcast. This is the Oakley podcast, trucking business and family. appreciate everybody joining us every Wednesday, bringing you some good stuff. New episode comes out every Wednesday. Be sure and check us out on YouTube. And of course if you don’t want to watch us you can, you know get you on your favorite podcast platform. We are doing a very good job of getting it out there to everybody. So, on today’s episode, we’re going to visit with a couple guys here at Oakley that actually got their start in Oakley trucking, Kale Shinnok and Jordan Moore. And we’re gonna you know, kale is the purchasing manager at Bruce Oakley fertilize. Jordan Moore is the VP of grain division here, Bruce Oakley. So, we’re gonna visit with him a little bit. And how they got started here at Oakley. You know they actually work together at Oakley trucking we’re going to talk about a little bit of the years there and how that maybe has helped them and the job that they are now with the grain diseased and fertilize division so gonna cover some other stuff gonna talk about maybe some of the owner operators they used to dispatch I don’t know we’ll see if they remember who they do they dispatch back then. I don’t know if it’s been a while. But first let’s do the Oakley update sponsored by Arrow Truck Sales.
Arrow Truck Sales Commercial 02:36
Arrow Truck Sales has been in business for over 60 years and a longtime partner of Oakley trucking and the Oakley podcast. TripAdvisor and Keith Wilson do a great job at putting you in the right truck to fit your needs and our needs here at Oakley. They all make some models to choose from with on site financing through transport funding. So whether you’re a seasoned owner operator or a first time buyer, be sure to contact Keith Wilson Arrow Truck Sales at 573-216-6047. And Tom, you heard it on the Oakley podcast.
Jeremy Kellett 03:06
The deal for the update this week. I know it’s a little bit early. But that’s all we’re already talking about the company party that’s coming on October the 21st. It’s on a Saturday night and usually starts about six o’clock. I don’t think we’ll give everybody the details, but it is definitely October the 21st. And if you’ve never been to one, you need to make plans to come. We started food and gave out awards to not only owner operators, but employees of Bruce Oakley. I mean, we actually bring in just everybody’s invited from all the ports, all the terminals all over the country to come here once a year and celebrate. So also the big thing is we did our first annual truck show last year. During the party, it was a big hit. We already got guys calling in and signing up. So you need to call Corey Huey up here to the office in the recruiting department. If you’re an owner operator with us and you want to get your truck into the truck beauty contest. It’s real. It’s a lot of fun because, you know, man, we got some guys that got some nice trucks and they put a lot of effort into keeping on clean and looking good. But the best part about this is it’s up to you. The people that come to the party, they’re the ones that vote on who is first, second , and third place winners, so it’s really good that everybody makes plans to come. We’ll come out with more details because we’ll have a block of rooms at a hotel for everybody to get a discount. So keep in mind the company party on October 21. Put it on the calendar. All right, let’s talk to Jordan more and get kale chips and let’s see what is going on with these guys first before we get going guys. I appreciate y’all doing this with me. I know you’ve been avoiding me for a long time. But I mean LG and it’s gonna be good but you know I think that’s one of the reasons I want both of you in here is because you kind of both have gone to a similar path through Bruce Oakley, and we want to talk about that. But before we do, let’s start with you, Jordan, let us let our listeners know who you are.
Jordan Moore 05:18
Jordan Moore vice president of Oakley grain started here and June 20 of 2011 I live in Austin Arkansas with my wife Ricky my two kids Hudson he’s seven Olivia is three so good fun stage in life. Not so fun stages sometimes with the kids but I just enjoy being together. hunt fish. College football.
Jeremy Kellett 05:50
Pretty much a weekend warrior. That’s it?
Jordan Moore 05:53
Yeah, so from Lone oak Arkansas, just probably straight line 18 miles down Highway 70 for long
Jeremy Kellett 06:00
been in this area your whole life? Yes, sir. Good deal. What do you do before you came to Oakley
Jordan Moore 06:06
college was straight out straight out No. Okay
Jeremy Kellett 06:08
good
Jordan Moore 06:08
university Arkansas then here my love you know to be able to last month in between I think maybe so that’s awesome.
Jeremy Kellett 06:17
Here, I had to work at the target distribution center. I went to sell windows and siding and it was horrible. Yeah, that’s just
Jordan Moore 06:27
straight here.
Jeremy Kellett 06:28
How about you kill
Kell Shenep 06:29
I am from the Little Rock area and live there now with my wife and two girls. I got a five year old Sophie and a two year old Ella so kind of the same. Similar to Jordan. We’re busy with that. On the weekends and you know evenings and stuff. Never a dull moment. Yeah. I started Oakley 11 years ago. I think about it one year before, after Jordan did.
Jeremy Kellett 06:57
And hobbies.
Kell Shenep 06:59
Play golf so much that I can’t ask my wife too much. Not quite as much before the two girls came along, especially the second one that kind of, you know, kind of trimmed the golf time down. But you know, college football is too big of a Razorback fan. You know, just pretty much family golf, you know, takes up most of our time.
Jeremy Kellett 07:23
It does. But Isn’t it fine? It is. It’s enjoyable while you can fill us in. I know it can be tough, you know with them that little at times and and you get it does cut into the old act outdoor activities for sure. Oh, my and did it ever, but then they’re gonna be up and gone. You know, for you know what? So yeah,
Kell Shenep 07:45
they’re a blast. I mean, they keep you on your toes for sure. And you don’t know whatever you’re gonna, you don’t know what’s going to come out of their mouth next. Sometimes you’re in public, and you kind of
Jeremy Kellett 07:55
They tell the truth. Oh, yeah. The truth comes out.
Kell Shenep 07:59
Oh, yeah. Sometimes it’s not the kind of, I don’t know, I don’t know any different.
Jeremy Kellett 08:03
It’s not? Well, I think it’s good for our listeners to hear you know what your guy’s journey is? Through Bruce Oakley.
Kell Shenep 08:13
I mean, you both started. Would you fresh out of college to kill off? Or did you have a job I went to work. My dad’s in banking and I went to work at the bank. He was at the time. More so on the insurance side for briefly for a year, maybe a year and a half. And then I knew of the Crisco brothers and a few other the BB guys that were here and just kind of sent my resume and talked to them and I had nothing but good things to say about Oakley sort of just kind of took a leap of faith and came over 11 years later. Look at you. Yeah. For good or worse.
Jeremy Kellett 08:49
Talk about those days, you know, getting at least getting hired on it at Oakley and Oakley trucking and what that experience was like, I mean, you know, not everybody can handle being in the trucking business. It is its own special world. How jell o jell perform? How’d y’all do? And how did you lock it?
Kell Shenep 09:09
I started out first. I don’t know if it was a year, it probably wasn’t quite a year in the end ups. And kind of JSON Web was my trainer at the time. Kind of just answered the phones for him and whatever he needed. I tried to assist with and kind of learn that way you kind of just learn at Oakley you learn kind of trial by fire. There’s no written hand policy on do this do that. It’s just one thing. They’ll tell you his name on the phone. I don’t care. You know who it is and you’ll figure it out. You know you if you need help, you can always ask but our training is terrible. I mean, you learn to answer the phone and make sure that phone answers. We don’t want it ringing around here and you start in the dots. I did start your
Jordan Moore 09:51
asset with Nick do it for a month. And then I moved to say and dispatch and with that Colby Foster was my boss, trainer.
Jeremy Kellett 10:03
That’s when Sam was fired? Just got fired up?
Jordan Moore 10:07
We had probably been in it a couple years. Okay. And then you know, the boom was 2014, I think and that’s when we went up to Pennsylvania and yeah, we’re doing I was a second. Yeah, seven jobs at a time, probably at Southwestern energy down here. And
Jeremy Kellett 10:26
so you would net you went straight, almost in the sand you correct? Yes. Hopefully you don’t for a month or so. That’s my strike. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my God. How many years of your life did it take? Oh, I had, I don’t know.
Kell Shenep 10:40
To be determined.
Jordan Moore 10:43
The nightmares are stopped.
Kell Shenep 10:45
Did you end up in science? Yeah, Jordan and I were in San, three or four years ago there. Were on the night shift even together, you know, at that time, it consisted of two of us in there at the same time. And the only two people in the whole office and the cleaning crew maybe occasionally would come in for a couple hours. But yeah, literally us to come in here. It’s pretty high stress when you’re running a couple jobs down south, you know, in Arkansas, and you got three, four or five jobs going on in Pennsylvania at the same time. And, you know, the name of the game is not to run them out of sand and you’re having to constantly move pieces around like it’s chess, you know, just trying to keep up and trying to prevent any failures that, you know, cause delays that are very costly. Money wise delays, if they have to wait on seeing, they’re hollering screaming at us, you know, looking at Oakley,
Jeremy Kellett 11:36
how long they’ll do that. They’ll do that too. He moved
Jordan Moore 11:40
too far. Last Gray. I did it for five years and then started an over the road tank, what we call dirted tank, vacuum pneumatic tanks. And then we kind of went back, CalFRAC started back out in New Mexico and South Texas. And we started that up. And it lasted about a year so probably, you know, around six years, like that.
Jeremy Kellett 12:06
Okay. So is that how long you were in trucking? Six and a half? Okay. Yeah. Now you’ve been in here for about six grains. Yeah, yes, sir. Okay, cool. And kill.
Kell Shenep 12:19
I went down. I went to the end. I went to dump said Mon, you went back to dump. So yeah, went back to dumps and then, you know, had a fleet of trucks over there between 4535 In dumps over there for probably another two to three years. And now I’ve been in fertilizer for three years now.
Jeremy Kellett 12:41
He’ll remember some of your old owner operators used to display.
Jordan Moore 12:46
David came up here and talked to me the other day. He was in his 20th year. Oh, yeah. And I remember when he came over from dumps and did frac sand and then I’ll see Greg Williams out here all dispatch him a little bit. Mica was but it’s kind of a joint deal, I guess there for a little bit on the back end magic. But yeah, dispatch. Greg a lot. And then. Man, I’m trying to think. I mean, I’ll see Randy Freeman, every now and again down here. And I see David learning and Jarrell McColl every morning loading the loom saying
Jeremy Kellett 13:17
guys, oh, yeah,
Kell Shenep 13:18
yeah. Dynomite call and I remember several my dump guys didn’t get Mike Allen and several that Memphis, that whole crew in Southern Mississippi crew and Kevin last year, and there’s a bunch that, you know, are still around that us that we see from time to time I see him in the parking lot or see him at the company party, it’s always good to see those guys, that company party, you know, spent a majority of my time talking to those guys more so than anybody else, it’s good to catch up and, you know, hear their stories, and that has a trucking division helped you
Jeremy Kellett 13:55
move on to fertilize and grind? How do you think it’s helped you?
Jordan Moore 14:00
The product, the discipline aspect? In the dispatch, I mean, you’re dealing with a guy on the other end of the line, you know, talking to him on the phone every day, you know, what’s his livelihood and your livelihood? You know, you’ve got equal skin in the game, so to speak. And just, you know, the discipline to taking care of him and getting you know, his Miles is money, you know, the safety requirements, things that dispatch and, you know, mainly had that dispatch procedure, which detailed, you know, step by step, and you still got it still got to talk about Yeah, and just I’m sure those guys are just like us, but we still didn’t follow it sometimes. Then you get what you get the discipline aspect of I think probably more so.
Kell Shenep 14:43
Yeah, I would agree with that. And I mean, just the responsibility you learn, you know, pretty quick that these guys are relying on you to make their living and that, you know, as a 2324 year old young man, you’re you have to learn pretty quick that when someone’s relying on you, you get 40 to 50 FTM are insane days, 250 I’m relying on you then grow up pretty fast. You do? Yeah, you do. Yeah. And it’s I mean, it’s a mutual respect. You know, we respect the drivers as much, if not more than they respect us. I mean, they’re what they’re doing out there. We can’t say enough about them, and we appreciate them. Yeah, for whether we’re in fertilizer, trucking, whatever we green. We appreciate those guys. So you do. However, the transition happened, you know,
Jeremy Kellett 15:29
I don’t know what they can do. You know, I don’t know, I’m still mad about it that y’all left, just so we get that out. Still, still on my left shoulder, even trucking. But that’s our idea was to better better for the whole company. And I’m all for that. Let’s make the company better. But y’all were great in trucking. You know, we really appreciated it back then. But you know, so that transition happened six years ago? And how long would you say like two or three years ago?
Kell Shenep 16:00
Yeah, three years ago.
Jeremy Kellett 16:02
So now what are you doing? I mean, you’ve had to, you’ve had to change your whole focus and get out of the trucking mindset to now, what are you doing every day,
Kell Shenep 16:12
kale. So now I’m over all the purchasing for all of our terminals. Yes, we’ve got several. I’ve had Kalama lose track. Again, it seems like we gain a new one every few months. But nine or 10, at least terminals that we have fertilizer in the warehouse, you know, physical, whether it’s liquid or dry fertilizer at these locations. And so I’m working with Bubba Vance, my boss, and with Ivan butchered as our international side. We’re all three kinds of working together trying to procure fertilizer for our terminals, and make sure that we’ve got something to sell out of those terminals. So talking to all of our suppliers, and then also other fertilizer companies and traders, talking to them on a daily basis and trying to decide what our needs are for needing urea at the time, or potash at the time, or DAP at the time, and making sure that we can get it to our warehouse in a timely manner to where we’ve got something to get to that end user that they can go out and put it in their field and, you know, get what they need. And also try and do it in a way that makes Oakley money. Yeah. Which is,
Jeremy Kellett 17:23
that’s a challenge because of the length of time that it takes, you know, it’s not calling up a truckload and I need it there tomorrow. I mean, because you’re playing tons and tons of products.
Kell Shenep 17:40
Yeah, I mean, so on a barge, it’s 1500 tons roughly, you know, the quantity that you’re having to get. Even if I went out today and bought a barge, it’s in New Orleans, it may be a month before it gets to some of our terminals, you know about time it gets picked up, down in New Orleans. And then by time it gets to whichever terminal it’s going, you know, there’s lag time in there, that’s anywhere from two weeks to six weeks, even if things are slow at the time. So we’re having to constantly try and juggle around inventory and make sure we have enough to sell but also not have too much to wear. We don’t want to have carryover if we think the market is, you know, going to trend downwards after the season we
Jeremy Kellett 18:18
don’t want to not carry on over to the next year is
Kell Shenep 18:20
it no good you can depend on the product they kind of carry differently, but more so it’s just the product, you know, and there’s so much ballers the price, there’s so much volatility to where you don’t, most of the time, you don’t want to just have you know, tons in the warehouse leftover and in case it’s dropping, you know, the price can easily drop 100 $200 a ton before you know it before you can get out, you know out from underneath it and no one’s using it at that time because it’s wintertime or after summertime or so. It’s got its own challenges, but it’s good. It’s been a good change.
Jeremy Kellett 18:56
You learned a lot.
Kell Shenep 18:58
You got a lot. I mean, the fertilizer learning program training program was no different than the tracking. You’re throwing you’re not you’re thrown in there and just you know, you kind of sink or swim. In my opinion, I wouldn’t have it any other way. It forces you to learn and grow quicker than if you’re kind of going step by step and just you know, have it all written out in front of you kind of you have to dive in and just feet first and figure it out. You’ll make some mistakes along the way but luckily you know Oakley and my bosses have always been good about understanding if you make a mistake, learn from it and don’t make it again but it’s the best way to learn is unfortunately by mistake from time to time. Yeah, exactly. It’s the
Jeremy Kellett 19:43
best way to learn. It’s unfortunate that it is about the grind division Jordan?
Jordan Moore 19:51
So how to oversee all the purchasing, selling the logistics there, everything that entails the terminals. We’ve got. Of course we’ve got a couple in the river valley Dardanelle and Murrell 10 are higher volume facilities or North Little Rock Pendleton, Arkansas, which is doing this outside of Dallas, and a place called Yellow bend or console, which is on the lower Mississippi and Southeast Arkansas the best way I could tell somebody to get there is go to McGee and hang a left and right to the river. That’s yellowfin. Yeah. And then we have Cahokia, Illinois, which is East St. Louis, that we acquired in 2020 grain facility up there. So I oversee all that I’ve got. And of course, we got some guys that work under me there as merchandisers that you know, buy products from either the farmer, another grain company, and do some selling as well. So oversee all those. So your goal?
Jeremy Kellett 21:01
What’s the goal in the grain division? Other than the obvious answer of making? Yeah.
Jordan Moore 21:06
Well, you want to make sure, you know, we want to have a good handle, you know, we want to take in as many bushels as we can, you know, obviously at a profit volume. Yeah. But I mean, what that does is, you know, you kind of look outside of yourself, because, you know, you’ve got Jay and train and Oakley barge line, you know, and, you know, the more tonnes we put on the water, you know, the more that helps stay and, and the more that we purchase, you know, off the farm, you know, a lot of these farmers have their own storage, like the store I have out here today, a lot of guys have built their own stores to kind of take advantage of the market, you know, where they can hold and
Jeremy Kellett 21:41
harvest it, put it in their own, then they can sell it when they
Jordan Moore 21:45
see when it’s more profitable for them. And you know where that comes into play? Is Oakley trucking. You know, down in Texas, you know, we buy tremendous mass soybeans at Texas oil. Oakley Hopper bottoms, take roofing granules down to Irving. And then they come back through Paris, Texas, and they bring in beans back right here to the North , flitter up, and then they go back over at 3am. Yeah, or wherever we’ll do it again. So we’re able to, you know, capitalize, you know, the synergy here. So with all the different logistics that we have here,
Jeremy Kellett 22:20
so I guess you store as much as you can here. And you get ready to Sure.
Jordan Moore 22:26
You know, the market? Well, the market, which the Chicago Board of Trade, you know, kind of tells you what you need to be doing whether you need to be shipping it out as fast as you can or whether you need to be,
Jeremy Kellett 22:37
You know, it has always been so confusing to me.
Jordan Moore 22:39
Well, it’s because it is confusing. That means, there’s no you got a bunch of different factors that go into that. Obviously, interest rates are becoming more and more of a factor. We didn’t think about those as much two or three years ago, but a little bit different today. So obviously, that’s what we try to do.
Jeremy Kellett 23:04
And I guess you probably just Danis look at these locations. You know these ports, like you said, Pendleton or yellow band. I mean, you want to round where there’s a bunch of farmland where the farmers are gonna go to the closest place. Absolutely,
Jordan Moore 23:20
absolutely. Yeah. Strategically located.
Jeremy Kellett 23:24
Do they bring in grain growers?
Jordan Moore 23:27
We own the fertilizer asset at Carruthers Ville but now they’re ordering companies right there beside us, but they’re owned by CGB. And Brandon
Jeremy Kellett 23:38
probably told me that Yeah, yeah. In his episode, he did a couple.
Jordan Moore 23:43
Sure. It’s a great location. Yeah. For grain.
Jeremy Kellett 23:47
A lot of stuff around there. Tons. So, you know, it’s I mean, I kind of got an idea of course working here, but I’ve always been just laser focused on trucking. Most of my career, but you had mentioned earlier how it kind of works all together. You know, explain that when, when you’re talking to customers and different people how, you know, how does it all work together? Trucking grain fertilizer barge poured?
Jordan Moore 24:21
Well, on our side, you know, we wouldn’t be able to buy beans in Texas if it wasn’t for an Oakley trucking, you know, because a guy’s not gonna hop on his farm truck and drive to North Little Rock, Arkansas. And I think you’d miss out on that. Yeah, absolutely. And the dependability. You know, we’ve built relationships with these people and they know the trucks. You know, if they’re getting Oakley grain, hey, we’re probably gonna get Oakley trucking to, hey, those guys will do what they say they’re gonna do and just repeat business. And I think Fletcher Calvert, who was here before me and retired some years ago, you know, he kind of really built that up and it’s you know, sustain, you know, in those markets and then you know how it all works together. I mean it’s you know Oakley grain Basel Oh to soybean. Oakley trucking picks it up and brings it to North Little Rock. It goes out on the Oakley barge. And then Jane Tran, the tow boat division of Oakley picks it up and takes it maybe all the way to the Gulf. Yeah.
Kell Shenep 25:23
Yeah, you can kind of flip ours around where ours will be if we buy fertilizer, say we buy a vessel from wherever it is at the time. You know, the we’re importing fertilizer in and we’ll use Oakley barges for some of that fertilizer, they’ll go to you know, they’ll pick it up, load it there in New Orleans, then it will get on a gene train boat, bring it up to say North literati to our terminal here. Then you have Oakley trucking. They’ll take it from North Little Rock to the local Co Op or to ever around here. And then it goes to the end user to the farmer. So I mean there’s it’s really kind of interesting sitting in Jordan, I see both. Just getting to see how Oakley operates everything that when I was in trucking, I didn’t. I pay attention to my set of trucks. And that was about it. You know, I knew we were hauled in for Oakley fertilizer for Oakley grain. But, you know, now you kind of get to see the other side of it. And you get to appreciate even more being on our side more than the customer now. The name you know, the how reliable Oakley Trucking is and really ties into, you know, what we used to hear preached mainly and others on how important customer services because now we’re saying now we’re saying the same customer? Exactly.
Jeremy Kellett 26:40
Trucking. Oakley grains? Exactly. So, yeah,
Kell Shenep 26:45
It’s pretty cool. Getting to see it just all how it’s all intertwined together? And how just how big of a?
Jeremy Kellett 26:52
Is that a big selling point when you try to sell to the end user?
Kell Shenep 26:58
I mean, absolutely. I mean, offer anything, I
Jeremy Kellett 27:00
I guess not so much that I will get fertilized. I mean,
Kell Shenep 27:04
you’re even on ours, because you know, that Co Op and is one that they are on at a certain time. And that end user certainly wanted them, they’re on at a certain time. So if we just use, you know, whatever, Company ABC trucking, and we don’t know, if we can’t rely on them, then we’re no better than the next fertilizer company. But if we can say, hey, Oakley is picking this up, you know, they’re right, where they’re literally downstairs for me. So I know if we have an issue, I can, you know, we can resolve it. And we’ll get communication and feedback. If for whatever reason there’s a breakdown or something, we can relay that a lot quicker than if we’re just using another trucking company and who knows how long it’s going to be if they’re going to relay that information at all. So it definitely gives us a leg up. And there’s times where we may even be more expensive, but they know they’re gonna get the product there on time. And that to me, that means everything.
Jeremy Kellett 27:55
You mentioned that you didn’t think well of Jordan, but that the owner operator realized what key part he plays in that whole thing. Well, not just picking up low
Jordan Moore 28:08
good. Yeah. And I mainly those guys are, you know, they’re trapped and they’re focused on their day to day and what they’ve got going on, but they are. They’re definitely you know, they’re a part of Oakley trucking, but they play their part Bruce Oakley Incorporated. You know what they do there? I mean, a much larger piece of the pie.
Jeremy Kellett 28:30
Yeah. And you see that more now sitting in and y’all see, then you did? Yeah. Focused on sitting in trucking. You don’t want it to be
Jordan Moore 28:37
absolutely the more beans we can buy in Texas or Oklahoma or wherever they can haul up there as well. More bardzo Proclip Parklawn it’s one more barge for Jane trying to get a tow. So yeah, they are
Jeremy Kellett 28:51
lowering it all helps. Bruce Oakley Inc which is what we used to call trucking. Big meetings we got
Jordan Moore 29:04
The diagram. Yeah. Yeah, I mean there you know, you know those have been here a long time. I mean, they probably, you know, saying it. reap the reward. Jamie Murphy. Ya know guys like that.
Jeremy Kellett 29:20
Oakley Trucking is a 100% Owner Operator company. We specialize in Hopper, bottom and dump and pneumatic drivers. We provide the trailer free of charge and you provide the truck. We have a large customer base that reaches the whole United States as well as parts of Canada. Our owner operators live anywhere from Texas to North Carolina to Pennsylvania to Wisconsin and everywhere in between and we get them home weekends. We take it seriously when you join Oakley trucking because we need you to be successful. Oakley offers great benefits and competitive mileage pay so you know that when your wheels are turning, you’re generating money no matter if you’re loaded or empty. We understand that you want to make a good living and that you make our living. We only take on independ New contractors and to be honest with you, we’re very particular on who we lease on, you must have a good driving record, good work history being a clean, dependable truck. So if you’re interested in Oakley trucking or just want some more information, you can go to Oakley trucking.com, listen to our weekly podcast, the Oakley podcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel. What’s the rest of the year looking like or in what’s the future looking like in fertilize kale,
Kell Shenep 30:26
We’ve had a good start to the year. First half of the year. We’ve grown as far as terminal wise, we’re not on acquisition, so to speak, but we’ve got two new spaces where we’ll have some more liquid storage in Kentucky and in Illinois, we’re excited about that. You know, the Oakley family is keen on growing, and they’re keen on the asset side of things. So that’s really been good for the grain side, and also the fertilizer side just to, you know, at the end of the day, you know, we keep doing the right things, then, you know, there’s gonna be chances they were, you know, something comes up acquisition wise, they’re going to take a good look at it and fits operating. If it makes sense, money wise, they’re going to be all over it, you know, they’re gonna try and help us grow and put trust into us that we can, you know, manage those assets correctly and sell, you know, buy and sell correctly as much as we can and continue to grow.
Jeremy Kellett 31:24
Man, there’s a lot of opportunity out there. Absolutely. What is your vision?
Jordan Moore 31:29
Well, with the expansion, you know, Cahokia when we expanded into that market that more than doubled our footprint, our bushel handle. So I guess to put it in perspective, we handle, you know, 30 million bushels down here, probably between our big three elevators, Northrop Pendleton, yellow man Cahokia, alone will handle 40 in a year. So I think some of the focus is down some of our facilities here, we’re not being we’ve had some, you know, management turnover at some of the terminals, and we’ve got some really good guys in there. Now. So focus on utilizing those places to their full potential because we lacked that probably years past. So probably just focusing on that. And, you know, we’ve only been at copia for three years. So, you know, we still haven’t filled out all the potential there yet. Probably either. So probably just focus on utilizing those
Jeremy Kellett 32:26
places. I’ve been there once, and it’s all drugs coming in and out there. It’s massive.
Jordan Moore 32:32
Yeah, it is. Yeah, though. That road, you know, because there’s three other companies on that road, Greg says. US but you know, they could doubt. I mean, there’ll be 2500 grain trucks dumped in a day at their yz. Places
Kell Shenep 32:50
between that and the St. Louis, you know, right cross river, the St. Louis fertilizer site. It is. It’s amazing.
Jeremy Kellett 32:55
Debbie was, you know, she just did an episode with me. And she was talking about that, too.
Kell Shenep 33:00
It really is amazing how much they have on the green side. You know, it’s, you know, Cahokia is impressive. And then on the fertilizer side, just seeing how many unit trains go in and out of there. And, I mean, it’s, it’s impressive. So the future looks good. Yes, it does. We got Crothersville back. But you know, you had Brandon on here. And let’s Oh, yeah, building the fertilizer. And we were out.
Jeremy Kellett 33:22
Today, you’re trying to fill it right.
Kell Shenep 33:24
Yeah. Now we just were able to start unloading barges. I believe it was first of June, I think somewhere around the first of June, middle of June that we finally were able to get tons into the warehouse and kind of just in time to miss the spring season. But that’s alright. Well, we’re looking forward to the fall there and having that back, and then having our North Little Rock warehouse we were able to start in January or February, I think unloading tons into it. And that’s it wasn’t quite as much of a challenge there. Last year in North America, we could still use an old warehouse, but there were some pains there too. So it’s nice to have two brand new warehouses that hopefully will last us, you know, for my future. Yeah, you know, 1020
Jeremy Kellett 34:10
I know that’s a mass one over there. I’d never been inside it. But I mean, just watching him build it and outside. It looks fantastic. Yeah. And his word knocking down this Oh, one out here. Clearing out some room for who knows what. But we’re taking it down to the parking lot, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Anything else you guys like to add? Do you know? I mean, I really liked the part about explaining a little bit more about working in trucking, and then you go, you know, the fertilizing grain, and then you kind of see it all tie in. together and what kind of actual service we can offer people here. You know, from beginning to end.
Kell Shenep 34:50
Yeah, it really is neat to see it from and it’s kind of something I haven’t really thought about until today. But the difference of Jordans going from the end user to you know, Out of the Gulf and we’re doing vice versa where it’s you know, we’re going from the bar just the beginning. You know, it’s kind of the beginning stage for us with Oakley to where it finishes out at the warehouse and then on to the end user through there but you know both sides of that you’re using Oakley at times you help the whole thing you help them grow it, and they send it to him. It’s exactly right. It’s a cycle that’s out there. It’s all intertwined. You got Oakley barges helping along the way Jane trains Oakley trucks and help along the way. And it certainly makes our jobs easier with having you know, those assets to and that’s, you know, we go to these conferences and fertilizer conferences and stuff and that’s a lot of them still no Oakley because of the trucking you know if they especially if they’re not in our area there they think of Oakley as Oakley trucking company. That’s because we’re the baddest man.
Jordan Moore 35:51
And I see all trucks all the time. That’s good. And they always come and look at how nice the trailers are. You know, I get that a lot. But yeah, the logistics background because everything that he does, I do was driven by logistics. You know, the whole company is driven by logistics and the owner operators like, you know, a big part of it. Yeah. Sometimes they don’t, sometimes I don’t think they know how big they are. I like your rap. Very important.
Kell Shenep 36:20
I think you get to know a lot more people. When you move around a little bit in the company, you just get to meet, you know, just in your day to day job. A lot of them are not just in the office, but more so out of the office at the different terminals and locations. And you know, it’s really neat to kind of meet everybody and just see how good of people Oakley really has that are working for him. You know from every level good people at this place. Yes. And that makes a big difference. Certainly.
Jeremy Kellett 36:51
Well, yeah, as I appreciate it. Hey, anything? Yes, we’re good. It covers everything I want to do. I’m sure our listeners have all kinds of questions now. But what does that do to get back with you? If any listeners out there, I mean, if you have questions on any of these episodes that we do, please send me some questions. So I could get to these guys. And I promise I’ll get you an answer of some sort. Because I can’t think of all the questions to ask him. For sure. Sometimes I do after we get through and go back and listen to it and it’s too late. But if you ever got any questions for any episodes we shared, and call me email me, text me whatever. And we’ll try to get them answered. Thanks for hanging out with me today, guys. Thanks for having us. Hi, everybody. Thank you for listening to the Oakley podcast. You know, say it every week. But man it just goes a long way if you share it with somebody else and me and Corey joke around here that there’re three and a half million truck drivers in this country and we need them all to be listening to the Oakley podcast. That’s our goal. So try to help us with that. Share it if you can and tell everybody about it. And once again, thanks for listening. We’ll talk to you next week. Thanks. Thanks for listening to this episode with Oakley podcast, trucking, business and family. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate or review the show in the podcast platform of your choice and share it with a friend. We love hearing from our audience. So if you’ve got a question, comment or just want to say hello, head over to our website, the Oakley podcast.com and click the leave a comment button. We’ll get you a response soon and may even share some of the best ones here on the show. We’ll be back with a fresh episode very soon. Thanks for listening.