Diversification: The secret to growth, stability for Silver Creek Transportation

Jason Cowan, president of Silver Creek Transportation, started the company in 1994 with the acquisition of Bob Clark Trucking and moved sand, rock and aggregates. In the years since the former owner-operator and wrecker driver has not only seen his operation grow, but also evolve. The fleet is no longer is the aggregates business, having set itself on a growth path since the early 2000s. From 2008 to 2018 the fleet grew to nine trucks and then, Cowan said, his company spent several years working through its business fundamentals to increase its customer base. In the last three years, truck count has exploded to 24 (20 company drivers and four owner-operators) and the Henderson, Kentucky-based fleet now serves the lower 48 states. Cowan’s company is among 10 semi-finalists in Overdrive’s 2021 Small Fleet Championship. Cowan in 2019 implemented a company board of managers and, along with his sons, formed a hive mind to write a business plan that would get the company to 30 trucks “within 3 or 4 years,” he said. This is the second of 10 Small Fleet Champ semi-finalist profiles that will be run here on Overdrive prior to announcement of the finalists later in the month of October. Access all of the profiles via this link. The final winner will be announced at the Nov. 4-6 conference of the National Association of Small Trucking Companies in Nashville, Tennessee.Silver Creek hauls food grade plastics, alloys and specialty machines and equipment with a fleet of pneumatic and liquid tankers, dry vans, flatbeds and low boy trailers. “Our business is built on ‘specializing in the special,'” Cowan said. Diversity of customers proved helpful during the onset of the pandemic and its lingering effects, which forced many of Silver Creek’s clients to close for a period. “We were blessed that our plan helped us keep our focus,” Cowan…