Five Rivers buys Consolidated Terminal’s Van Buren operation

Van Buren-based Five Rivers Distribution has acquired the Van Buren operations of Covington, La.-based Consolidated Terminal and Logistics Company, according to Five Rivers President Marty Shell. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Shell said the deal took almost 10 months to complete, and closed in November. He said the deal adds 50 acres of space that is immediately north along the Arkansas River of his existing 120-acre Five Rivers operation. Five Rivers also operates the Port of Fort Smith.

“It was our competitor next door that we were able to absorb and expand our business for the future,” Shell said. “It’s kind of personal for me, because they were a competitor for almost 30 years. … So when the opportunity presented itself, I decided to go after them.”

Prior to the deal, Five Rivers employed 17 people and had around 10 trucks a day taking product out of the Port of Fort Smith, and up to 100 trucks a day deliver out of the Van Buren port. The company has customers in 17 states, with steel, fertilizer and animal feed being some of the more common products stored at the Van Buren and Fort Smith warehouses.

According to Consolidated, the Van Buren operation has rail lines that can handle 20 rail cars, supports various forms of truck-rail-barge transfer, and covered and uncovered product storage areas. Shell said he will add at least one employee, but already has the people and equipment to manage the former Consolidated facilities.

“We can handle everything there (Consolidated) with our existing manpower, and with a lot of that (equipment), so it was really a win-win for us in that regard with the deal,” Shell said.

With the Fort Smith port, Five Rivers has almost 200 acres and 500,000 square feet of warehouse space. Shell said he is planning to spend between $500,000 and $750,000 to upgrade the former Consolidated site and better connect the facilities, and is hoping to have that work finished by the second quarter of 2025.

However, Shell may pause some of the work if President-elect Donald Trump carries through on tariff threats. Trump has said he is considering broad tariffs against Canada, China, Mexico and other U.S. trading partners to address what he believes are economic disadvantages, and in some cases, to reach other political goals.

“What we went through between 2017 and 2020 with those (first-term Trump tariffs) was far worse than the 2008 recession. It really was. It just threw the whole transportation system, at lease for us, in reverse. … Those tariffs were really detrimental for our industry,” Shell said.