O and S adds Stever Trucking as third local acquisition

by Paul Schreiber

SBJ Reporter

pschreiber@sbj.net

O & S Trucking added 129 refrigerated trailers and 12 trucksvia a Jan. 1 acquisition of Stever Trucking.

It is the third acquisition in two months. O & S bought Mo-Cal Express on Dec. 1 and BelCor Inc. on Dec. 29. All companies are Springfield-based.

O & S's total number of trucks will be 450, with 230 refrigerated trailers and 550 dry-freight vans.

"This completes what we were looking to do," said Jim O'Neal, owner and president of O & S. "We're about at the size that we want to be. The 450 power units and the diversification in the refrigerated side achieves our plan objectives of growth and diversification."

O'Neal would not disclose the costs associated with the stock trade merger.

Stever Trucking owner Dick Grant will now operate as senior vice president of the refrigerated division.

Thirty-five trucks in O & S's refrigerated fleet will come from new purchases, O'Neal said. O & S will pay about $45,000 per refrigerated trailer or about $1.4 million total, he said.

The acquisition of Stever Trucking brings that company back to its beginnings. Keith Stever was the "S" behind O & S, and he split off Stever Trucking in 1987, O'Neal said. "Different business objectives" led to the division, he added. Dick Grant bought Stever Trucking in 1995. Stever had 2003 revenues of about $17 million, O'Neal said. O & S Revenues are projected at about $69.3 million for 2004, O'Neal said.

Trucker regulations

O'Neal said his company continues to monitor the effect of the recently instituted U.S. Department of Transportation laws to regulate the numbers of hours drivers are on the road. "We're going to see what the impact is," he said, maintaining that "on some of the lanes short haul, multiple-stop loads there'll be significant impact."

"Loads and shipments that create major issues with waiting time and (are) eating up available hours to drive will have to looked at really hard, and the pricing of those shipments would have to change," O'Neal said. "And obviously, at the end of the day, I think that will be passed on to the consumer."