This week on the Oakley Podcast, Jeremy Kellett and Megan Cummings welcome Fred Taylor, Project Coordinator at Bruce Oakley Inc. During the episode, Fred delves into the critical role of inland waterways in the transportation industry, especially for agriculture. He discusses the challenges and necessary improvements for the waterway system, emphasizing the importance of active industry involvement and partnerships with organizations like the US Army Corps and the US Coast Guard. Fred also shares his personal background, family life, his role at Oakley Trucking, mentoring young managers, the promising future of Oakley Trucking, and more.
Key topics in today’s conversation include:
- Previewing this week’s episode (0:48)
- Fred’s background and journey at Oakley (2:55)
- Significance of inland waterways in transportation (6:06)
- Explanation of waterways and their significance (7:34)
- Fred’s personal background and family (9:28)
- Expanding role at Oakley (12:14)
- Improvements needed in the waterway system (15:12)
- Efforts to secure funding for waterway projects (18:57)
- Tonnage moved by barge (20:43)
- Partnerships and roles in the waterway system (22:16)
- Oakley’s competitive edge (23:49)
- Future of waterway systems (26:27)
- Parting thoughts and takeaways (27:38)
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
Fred Taylor 00:13
When a customer calls, and they gotta transport, we’ve got a lot of those transportation needs covered. Yeah. And that’s what’s kind of exciting when no matter where you’re working in what you’re doing, you’ve got a chance to say, what are your needs? If it’s barging, if it’s towing. If it’s trucking, if it’s rail transload wherever we fit a niche, we’re there. Oakley says the whole of yours. You can see that from the trucking side as well, but we’re quick. We can make decisions quickly and that’s a true testament to the Oakley family. We need to move quick we can
Jeremy Kellett 00:48
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. Hey, welcome to the Oakley podcast, trucking, business and family. I’m Jeremy Kellett, director recruiting here at Oakley trucking and I’m your host for this podcast. And this podcast is going on now for what? 234 years now, it’s amazing that it keeps going. We do one every week. You know, in the past, I guess we’ve taken a break once in a while to bring you some reruns. But you know, we try real hard. And I want you all to know this is listening, we really put a lot of effort into trying to come up with some good stuff. For our listeners to make a difference. Whether you’re learning about Bruce Oakley, incorporated in all the different aspects of it, or whether you want to hear from one of our owner operators, or one of our truck drivers, I mean, even to his office employees, we just try to bring you something a little bit different to keep it interesting. So I hope it’s good for you. I hope you enjoy it and keep listening every week. You know, the best thing to do is share it with somebody and tell somebody about it. Check out our social media, Annabelle does a great job with the ID on the TikTok and Facebook and YouTube. I mean that that’s how this stuff spreads these days. So you guys share and we appreciate every time you do it means a lot. So on today’s episode, got Fred Taylor, a project coordinator here at Bruce Oakley Incorporated, we’re going to cover some different kinds of stuff, you know, from explaining some things about the waterways, and what all that entails because that’s a whole nother in depth talk and we’re gonna get a little bit into that, you know, with, with how that works on the waterways and the ports and our terminals and how they play a part and we might even throw in a little bit of trucking. I can’t help but I can’t help but throw in some trucking, you know, in there, but I got my co-host Megan Cummins back with me. Howdy. I told him last time when you wouldn’t hear I did one. Just one without me. Yeah. Did you know what I did? I said you were on assignment.
Megan Cummings 03:05
Oh, yeah. You know, that makes you sound really important. I was
Jeremy Kellett 03:09
gonna say you wouldn’t sound good. Yeah, so she’s on assignment. So just left up to interpretation so that’s the deal when you do one without me. Yeah, I’m on to some important
Megan Cummings 03:19
assignment. I’ll add that different
Jeremy Kellett 03:24
everything goes on your wife Megan. Everything is good in the parliament department. All good. So
Megan Cummings 03:30
far, so good. 2290s rolling in. Canada’s good steady
Jeremy Kellett 03:36
good to get some good feedback off your Canada episode. Yes.
Megan Cummings 03:40
There were a few stragglers that were talking about when you make it sound so good. So more people will go to it or go up there to run loads to Canada. Okay.
Jeremy Kellett 03:51
Encourage some people to Yeah, I
Megan Cummings 03:53
I think it dumb it down is not the right word. I do. Yes. And it’s like it’s not that big of a deal. We take care of all the work for you. So I hope it helped I’m sure
Jeremy Kellett 04:03
if y’all didn’t if you didn’t catch it go back. Sorry I don’t matter what episode it was but it was a few back and Megan’s sit down. One of our owner operators talked about crossing the border. How easy it was. So everybody was scared to death when you say Canada they like
Megan Cummings 04:20
Yeah, yeah. We get out of there. Other
Jeremy Kellett 04:24
Net hire sponsors as always LubeZone Arrow Truck Sales have been with us for a long time doing a great job. Can’t say enough about them. If you’re looking for a used truck, check out Arrow Truck Sales because they get the right thing for you. They can pick it out. I mean they have all kinds of models everywhere that they can find for you the best inventory of strokes that I’ve ever seen. And also don’t know if you knew this. They are coming to North Little Rock. Really. They have already broken ground legally. I think we let that out when I had the President of Arrow Truck Sales on Yeah, we He led it. We told him, we added that to the episode, listeners. But yeah, so they are building a place over here, no clutter rock right there and look at. So appreciate y’all checking out Arrow Truck Sales and lube zone, always getting some good feedback from everybody that uses lube zone, several locations to get to do a fantastic job. Ben was longtime and we also got a couple of other sponsors in the works. And he got nailed down yet, we’ll get a couple other ones we’re talking to, we just want to make sure they’re, they’re good. We don’t want to recommend somebody that does not represent well. So we want to make sure that and that’s what we’re doing. So Fred Tyler, how are you?
Fred Taylor 05:40
I’m doing fine. Thank you.
Jeremy Kellett 05:42
I appreciate you joining us on this. You know, it’s kind of been a long time coming, I feel like but I just didn’t know the right time here
Megan Cummings 05:49
to get you in here, maybe a little ducking and dodging
Jeremy Kellett 05:54
might be a little bit of that. You have here you were, let’s talk about the inland waterways compared to other transportation modes. And then especially it’s significant in agricultural business. You
Fred Taylor 06:06
I know, that’s a huge topic. And before I get started, I just want to say thank you, you all do a wonderful job and these podcasts and watching you all these years, I appreciate you it’s really something, some of the programs you’ve put together, I just can’t help, you know, walk by and tell you, Hey, that was a really special. And so again, thanks for having me. But your number one topic there, you talked about the importance of the waterway to the agriculture community. We’re really all communities when it comes to moving freight. It is something that, as a whole, we typically take for granted. It’s moving so much tonnage out there. But just from the agriculture side, if you look at the tonnage volumes, that’s moved on the inland waterways, intercoastal waterways as a whole, that’s 600 630 million tons moved on the waterway per year, okay, for 630 million tonnes a year. If you break that down and just say, hey, how much that’s grain or grain products or any any type of agriculture type product that could very well be 17% of that give or take, of that, of that tonnage being moved. So it’s significance of the waterway moving these times and I always use this term quietly moving them is huge to the nation overall. Explain
Jeremy Kellett 07:26
the the term waterways just a little bit more in depth to
Fred Taylor 07:30
what what we’re what you mean when you say the waterways. So we’re talking about the inland river navigation systems. Primarily, we’re talking the New Orleans Gulf, Mobile, to the New Orleans golf and the intercoastal leading all the way up to the heartland of the United States. Of course, he can’t be remiss if he didn’t bring in the snake and Columbia river out on the west coast up north northwest. They’re out there moving freight as well. But we’re typically focused right on our inland waterway. You start off with the Mississippi, the upper miss, he talked about the Illinois, he talked about the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Tombigbee, the Cumberland the course the lower miss, and my favorite, the Arkansas Carnes. Yeah, the Red River. And I know there’s some tributaries that fall into that as well. But, you know, that’s the heartland. That’s the Platte River. Yeah. Well, where it’s applicable. Right. And part of it. You bet. Yeah. Well, that
Jeremy Kellett 08:29
helps me understand that a little bit. You know, and I think our listeners too, because the waterways is, is I had to look at a map years ago, just to see, you know, to visually put it all together, where all the the rivers, you know, come into play, I guess they basically all come to the Mississippi, you’re at
Fred Taylor 08:48
it. It does, of course, unless you’re talking maybe the Tom Baker be and where it drops out. Okay, and mobile and other locations. That’s the thing I want to press upon all the viewers today, if you get that map you’re looking at, you’ve seen that map before, I don’t know how many people grab it map, can I take this, you know, can take us out, you know, they want to see that. And they are just not familiar with the way that tonnage moves on the navigation system. Tell us
Jeremy Kellett 09:13
a little bit about Fred Taylor. You’re gonna give us some knowledge here on the waterways. Well, well, we got to know what you’re talking about. We got to know each other.
Fred Taylor 09:24
Yeah, so I’ll tell you a little bit about myself. I grew up in Southeast Kansas. That’s where we were a farm family. We also had some businesses besides that, but there’s um, one to 12 kids in the family. So we learned work when we understood that. And in 1984, I finally made my way down to Port 33, which, at that time, there were seven or seven of us, maybe on the crew, maybe three at the grain elevator, but 10 Total give or take, and I did a little bit of everything. Now that was Johnston. Was it at that time it was when he got it still very young or 33 is very young poured in 1984 There just wasn’t a whole lot there. We had an old crane that we unloaded barges with direct to truck and didn’t have warehousing and had grain elevators, and that was web Johnston grain. So, but anyhow, back to my story after I moved there and in 1984, but that was a little after college, and that’s where I cut my teeth. That’s where it all started for me.
Jeremy Kellett 10:30
So did you go to college thinking you’re gonna do this? No,
Fred Taylor 10:34
no. And Amazing how life leads you those deals fast but no, I did have an agribusiness degree, but okay, yeah, but I didn’t think anything of the waterway. When I told you I grew up in a family of 12. So, you all heard some of your viewers know, most of them probably don’t. My older brother Steve was also significant in Macon port 33 what it is today. So basically, I went and joined my brother at the port. And since then, brother Steve, brother Larry, brother, Brian, nephew, Josh NATS you Ivan. There’s just quite a few of us intertwined in harbor port operations.
Jeremy Kellett 11:13
And most of them, I mean, how long were you at Port 33?
Fred Taylor 11:18
Well, I was at Port 33. Till 2020. I left Oakleys for a year and in 2014 Oakley acquired Justin’s port 33 and its facilities. Stay there till 2020 left for a year fortunate enough to come back to Oakleys here and this is where I came back to here at the home office and been rockin and rollin ever since.
Megan Cummings 11:40
Was that a big move from Port 33 to
Fred Taylor 11:44
here? You know, it’s funny people have asked me that. Now talking about northeast Oklahoma to Central Arkansas. Was that a big big? No. That’s it’s so common interest but the opportunity to come here and join Oakleys with all their ports and terminals they have. And my experience from all the waterways. That’s been a blessing. Oh,
Megan Cummings 12:09
yeah.
Jeremy Kellett 12:10
So what are your job duties here? Now,
Fred Taylor 12:14
you know, that project coordinator just touches. Yeah. And I love to help Justin with his vision. So I help all the ports and terminals in any department I can. I don’t care if it’s in a project or if it’s maybe new business or old business, just taking care of business overall. And so it could be pricing out a new project, it could be building a new project. So love customers like to get to visit with them and and always keep them coming to us and us going to them. That’s just been a fun job all through my career. finish out with your family. Oh, shoot. Yeah. Need to do that. So I’m married. My wife’s name is Patricia. I have been married for a long time. We’ll just leave that at that. Come on now. And also out of that. I don’t see why she stayed around us that long but she has blessed her heart. We have two kids and my oldest of which is living in Oklahoma. And he’s married and I have two grandsons from him. And then my daughter, she’s out in Edmond, Oklahoma. So great kids have been blessed with great kids. grandkids to do great grandsons. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. How
Megan Cummings 13:25
Far of a journey is that? From where you were before to where you are now?
Fred Taylor 13:30
So four or five hours? Oh, that’s it.
Megan Cummings 13:32
Enough to Yeah, so
Fred Taylor 13:35
you can make that trip real quick. Yeah. What is really
Jeremy Kellett 13:39
unique and I think I said this episode way back, but you said there’s 12 of you kids. Yeah.
Megan Cummings 13:47
We just breeze right past that we didn’t like, I mean, like I want to forget waiting for you to say something.
13:53
Well, I already knew that. But it’s because I’ve been with you, brother, Steve. All 12 of them are alive and kicking. Yeah. And your parents are still alive. Yeah. Father’s passed away. Or mother’s still alive. At 96. And that’s what it was. Maybe that’s what Steve told me. The mother. Your mother still? Yeah, but what is even Yeah, what I was amazed about is all 12 of
Megan Cummings 14:19
All 12 had no casualties. That is awesome. Money lost at Walmart. Or you can’t
Fred Taylor 14:26
say enough about how lucky we are. Nobody has 12 kids anymore. No, no, you know, of all the kids you know, some of us have got four or five kids, you know, so on and so forth. But I’ll tell you, I don’t know how my parents did it. But they did it.
Megan Cummings 14:42
What do family reunions look like?
Fred Taylor 14:43
You know what? It’s not even controlled chaos.
Jeremy Kellett 14:46
It’s a blast.
Fred Taylor 14:49
We have a shitload of fun. There’s
Jeremy Kellett 14:53
I can only imagine how well
Fred Taylor 14:55
it fits right in to me to the Oakley network. Yeah, it’s a family thing. So just just part of it, tell
Jeremy Kellett 15:02
me what improvements need to be made to the waterway system. I mean, I know you’re always thinking about that goes, I guess you have to deal with the Corps probably,
Fred Taylor 15:12
You know, the US Army Corps and the US Coast Guard, primarily the US Army Corps, they’re tasked with maintaining the navigation system, big job, of course, the waterway to itself, as you know, the value to our nation, overall, it takes a big job to keep that going. And we’ve fallen asleep at the wheel a little bit. I’m gonna use that term from the trucking side, but we let things deteriorate our locks and dam systems. And why we’re doing a little better today about repairing and keeping those systems operable. We have somewhat fallen behind and how competitive we are maybe from a world perspective. So you know, crazy numbers that I can throw out, Brazil is starting to catch up with us a little bit and their grain production, and they’re competitive, which will feed the world program. Well, we used to be that leader and we still are today. But we’re narrowing that margin because our inland water navigation system’s challenge, not lock it, gives us an example. Well, so a lock and dam, the old Lock and Dam systems aren’t getting maintained. So they’re down, they slow or stop commerce no different than a truck on a highway where they’ve got a highway problem, you can’t move. So that tonnage seems to try to seek its way over to you know, truck or rail letters, you know, as well as I do. If you look at trying to take 630 million tonnes and try to convert that over to railroad trucks, we would plug instantly, we wouldn’t be able to move. So we’re just not as competitive on our waterways, because we’ve let our infrastructure fall in and again, mainly that’s locks and dams, and holding up toes. The odd part about that, for the viewers, just so they understand is the waterways are growable, there still room for expansion, how. So if we would improve our locking dam, maybe bigger locks and dams, so the toe size can get in and get out. So just take the Arkansas River, the M Karns. Lock is 600 feet long, it’s 110 feet wide. You can put eight barges in a boat in that lock for a single, what they call a single lockout, or single push through. What we need to do is increase the size of that. So you could put more barges in that one cut, so you’re not have to, what we call, tramp them through. And it just takes so much longer if you had that speed of which you could move those barges through those locks, they’re going to get to their points of origin and destination a lot faster. And that was
Jeremy Kellett 17:52
a roundabout, how long does it take for one to go through you think?
Fred Taylor 17:55
Well, if we’re just talking a single cut, it’s going to take him three, three and a half, four hours, double cuts can take even longer that
Jeremy Kellett 18:04
really and that’s what’s done by a single cut and a double cut. Yep, yep, sat beside
Fred Taylor 18:09
a single cut, single cut to double cut single cut was just the amount of barges in the boat that will fit into the lock chamber at one time. Gotcha. But if he’s pushing 12 That means he asked to take a percentage of his toe, let’s call it eight bars, just shove them through then go back and get his other toe, bring them together and rewire them together again. And this is where those deckhands get a workout. Yeah. And they’re laying wires and throwing ratchets. And you know, Dan, trans just moving barges. Yeah. And when they fire up, you know, they’re moving like that. But we can greatly improve not only on the cards, we can greatly improve the whole inland waterway as a whole and get these we can get back up for more competitive
Megan Cummings 18:52
Do you think? Do you think it’s trending that way? Do you think we’re trying to make a recovery?
Fred Taylor 18:57
I would like to think we’re doing better. I’ve been watching Congress and the money that they allocate to the US Army Corps to get these projects done. We’ve done a better job, I think not only the Oakleys. But on this river, the Janisch brothers, the McGeorge are all the family names that have really, you know put their heart and soul in this. They’ve made sure that their congressman no and that’s been robbed run up to the hill and that that money starting to work now or just how many people we can get to to get these construction crews to get these repairs may Yeah,
Megan Cummings 19:33
and that’s a big part of your job is watching what happens on Capitol Hill and yeah,
Fred Taylor 19:39
So if we’re fortunate in this, we’ve got a couple of you know, Josh Childers watches that a lot. It’s kind of one of the things he’s tasked for and I’ve watched him silently but yeah, we got to see what’s going on at the hill. So we make sure we’re taking care of Mr. Oak Mr. Dennis Oakley, do believe you still on the inland Water Transportation Board. Big role. And I’m so glad he’s there. Now. I think he might be coming off of his term. But that’s a big responsibility.
Jeremy Kellett 20:08
You know, I guess so you got to? I mean, you got to be in the game. Yeah. You know, yeah, stay on top of evolved to get the changes made that you need, for sure
Fred Taylor 20:18
with this system, to make sure that, again, I go back to if you take 630 million tonnes and try to put it on a rail or truck. We won’t move. Yeah, it’s impossible. And I wonder, you
Jeremy Kellett 20:30
know, actually say that, I shouldn’t know this. But I don’t have much of the hope of all the tonnage is moved by barge, you know, truck, or rail that you happen to know that well, I do know that
Fred Taylor 20:45
17% of the says 17% of the nation wants what’s 1/7 or 181 seventh of 630 million in big data, math and calculator. But that’s what moves on the waterway versus different. What moves on the truck, rail or air? We can’t, you know, yeah. Tremendous amount of cargo moves by air as well. Yeah.
Jeremy Kellett 21:14
But I’ll tell you, it’s overwhelming. You know, just to think about all that material and tonnage is moved
Megan Cummings 21:21
by water. You only ever think about when you think of a product being moved. Trucking is very important. I’m a little biased, but you only ever think of stuff being loaded onto a truck and drove down the highway. And it’s like, that’s the tremendous amount of product that’s being moved on the water. And I bet you we’d be able to tell exactly how much if that just stopped.
Fred Taylor 21:45
Yeah, very quickly.
Jeremy Kellett 21:48
We tell a lot when there’s some floods, you know, trucking explodes, you know it, you can do a lot. Well,
Fred Taylor 21:56
you got a trucking bias. I have all three. It takes all three modes, no matter what you do the trucks, the rail and the barge, talking
Jeremy Kellett 22:04
about F Red Hat. You know, so, so how does Oakley ports and terminals all play a role in that, and you know, the port authorities department transportation,
Fred Taylor 22:16
You know, we got to work with our partners. There’s no doubt on the waterways from the US Army Corps, the US Coast Guard, several partners, but even in the states that we work in, I don’t care if it’s Arkansas, or Mississippi or Missouri. The Department of Transportation is the DOTS. And some of them have the Arkansas Waterway commission. Even the Oklahoma Department of Transportation has an intermodal division. Now, Oklahoma, we don’t have much of a river, right? But still, you can think of the tonnage that moves in and out of those states. We are our partners, and we have to stay very close with him. We got port authorities that are out there trying to develop ports, just like down river here across from us. Again, we talk about the opportunity they have and we have to bring them as a private port and as port operators, and that’s where Oakleys is special. And I like to think that we have private ports. We’re port operators in public ports, or at least tenants within public ports. So we work within those opportunities, if you will, and that’s a great attribute Oakley.
Jeremy Kellett 23:32
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, to be able to, you know, on the part of tying it all together. I mean, I guess with the, with the barges, the waterways, the trucking, the ports. I mean, this makes it I think it gives us an edge over the competition. Yeah. So
Fred Taylor 23:49
when you kind of flip that lever the other way, a customer recalls, and they have a transportation need. We’ve got a lot of those transportation needs covered. And that’s what’s kind of exciting no matter where you’re working in what you’re doing. You’ve got a chance to say, what are your needs? If it’s barging, if it’s towing, if it’s trucking, if it’s rail, transload wherever we fit the niche. We’re there. Oakley says a whole of yours. You can see that from the trucking side as well. But we’re quick. We can make decisions quickly and that’s a true testament to the Oakley family. If we need to move quickly we can go to your event. I didn’t know y’all had there. I didn’t know you had barges. You know, you had trucks. We know. It’s something you run across every now and then. But more often because of Oakley trucks being out on the road. People say I know you. So you know those words out there. And that’s great. It’s a great feeling. But the truth of the matter is you still have to tell people Oh, I had no idea you knew that even existed. So waterway He says quiet and they don’t see it. So that’s the part you kind of got to bring the light. Did
Megan Cummings 25:05
you think whenever you got out of college and you applied at Port 33, did you ever think that you would be a part of something this big? Or it would turn into something this massive?
Fred Taylor 25:16
You know, Megan, I have to ask myself that when I get up every day. At my age now, I look back and think, Okay, where did it go? It grew so much, and the tonnage the opportunity to be part of so much. The one of the things that’s special, and I know Dennis and Justin, and Benny, and anybody that’s from the school of bringing it up from the ground up knows this. But you’re set out there every day, and you move those times, and you get the opportunity to be part of a big program. So I like to thank people that even the viewers out there, the trucks were running everywhere. I like people to be jealous of us doing a lot of things, you know, we’re making it happen. But it’s all with just the blessing that we got the opportunity to do it.
Jeremy Kellett 26:09
Yeah. Makes you feel good. I mean, confident. Oh, when you get to somebody backing you? It does.
26:15
It does really well. Yeah.
Megan Cummings 26:17
All right, Mr. Taylor. What are we? What’s the future of the waterway systems look like from someone with an inside scoop?
Fred Taylor 26:27
You know, that’s broad as it might sound that the future looks good. Looks really good for the waterways and
Jeremy Kellett 26:33
throw in a little future of Oakley without giving away, you know, without getting it cut.
Megan Cummings 26:40
Yeah, yeah.
Fred Taylor 26:44
Those opportunities for us on the waterway to expand and be part of, if you push this back a little bit and look at it from the numbers that you see from being biased for trucking or look at rail, or look at barging, we’re supposed to grow our demand by 23%, within so many years, I mean, that’s a lot of tonnage. It’s got to go somewhere. It’s got to be handled. And so the future looks bright, simply because of the needs there. And are we going to be strategically placed? Where can we make those moves and handle those times? And grow those crops and agricultural or industrial commodities that all matter? Can we be there in the right places at the right time. And I feel like we can be it’s just a matter of continuing to do what we’re doing, what’s brought us to the dance and keep dancing.
Megan Cummings 27:35
What about the future of her friend Taylor?
Fred Taylor 27:37
Yeah, that’s a good question to get up in the morning and get after a lot of countries that continue to see the gross, the oak leaf. Again, I’ve been part of a lot of good mentors in my life. The Justice family, privately held company, good family, a lot of the same attributes. It was all about the growth and Oakley says no different but just being lucky to be part of the team and see this company continue to be successful. Are you mentoring anybody? No, no, not when I say that. Not directly to me. But I will tell you, we got a lot of fine young managers out there that I get to deal with on a daily basis. And our future is bright with these guys. Because they’re really multitalented. I could start from way up north and go clear to the southeast guys or just make you smile when you talk to him. Because they got what it takes. We just got to help them get there.
Jeremy Kellett 28:36
Well, what’s your experience? I mean, knowledge wisdom, you need to be somebody needs to be picking your brain Do you regularly feel considerably
Megan Cummings 28:45
smarter than when I sat down in his chair?
Fred Taylor 28:49
Well, I guarantee when I get our team out there managing ports and terminals they’ve got the talent we just got to give them the building blocks to get where they need to be and when I say ideal I’m not mentoring anybody I don’t think I’m a mentor them as much as I am there to help them get where they need to be and just enjoy working with all that’s for darn sure, Jim.
Jeremy Kellett 29:11
I think you’re mentoring about eight nine people probably went without
Fred Taylor 29:18
I appreciate that. But yes, no, that’s, that’s up I think, you know, then you give them everything they need. And we can
Jeremy Kellett 29:26
be successful. Yeah. Appreciate you sitting down with us. Thank you very much for having a good conversation. Anything else you’d like to add? No, I think we’ve covered it forever. Actually. Just so our listeners know, we originally made a longer list of things to talk about. And I said, Man, this is all good stuff. So we cut it down to where, you know. You gotta keep it simple for me, Megan, me too, you know, so we keep it simple for Jeremy. I had to cut down the topics you know, like, this is all I can tell Yeah, without losing concentration, you know, but I appreciate that. So what the reason I’m saying is, I’m hoping you come back and we talk later about some of this other stuff. I’d love to just keep
Fred Taylor 30:12
The list is growing and I’m happy to talk about it. Like for it.
Megan Cummings 30:15
Thank you. Thanks, Megan. No problem. I appreciate you.
Jeremy Kellett 30:17
I appreciate all the listeners out there. Thanks for tuning in to the Oakley podcast every week. We don’t bring a new one. Every Wednesday tuning in. Appreciate it. So yeah. Thanks for listening to this episode with Oakley podcast, trucking, business and family. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to write 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.