January 11

Jarvis, founded in 1984, will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Crowley and will continue to operate from its existing headquarters.

"Our acquisition of Jarvis is a unique opportunity to extend our logistics services to new industries and geographic areas," said Tom Crowley Jr, chairman, president and CEO of Crowley. "Jarvis' already strong client relationships and specialized knowledge combined with our experience, facilities and capabilities will prove to be an even greater resource to customers in these industries."

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 offers regular shipments by sea to noted international oil-field centres such as Aberdeen, Stavanger, Rotterdam, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Singapore. The company is also a Customs broker with bonded warehouse capabilities.