Port on record pace for barges, tonnage
Barge traffic and cargo tonnage at the Port of Little Rock are on pace to exceed the record number of barges and cargo tonnage handled in 2015, according to Logistic Services Inc., which is contracted to handle services at the port.
Through the first nine months of 2018, the port docks worked 418 barges. That is 104 barges, or 33 percent, more than the 314 barges worked at the same point last year, port figures showed.
Cargo tonnage handled by the port has increased 34 percent in the same period, to 640,000 in 2018 compared with 477,000 last year, a difference of 163,000 tons.
The port loaded or unloaded 53 barges last month and handled 82,000 tons of cargo, according to the port.
Fred Long, general manager of Logistic Services' operations at the port, said the 2015 record was 543 barges and 840,000 tons of cargo.
Total tonnage on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System -- of which the Little Rock port is a part -- is down 2 percent in the first nine months of 2018 compared with the same period last year. A total of 8,515,790 tons of cargo was carried on the system through September compared with 8,689,581 tons carried in the first nine months of 2017, a drop of 173,791 tons.
-- Noel Oman
Home BancShares to release 3Q report
Home BancShares, the parent company of Conway-based Centennial Bank, will release its third-quarter earnings today before the stock market opens.
The company's management will discuss the results of the quarter in a conference call. The call can be accessed by dialing (877) 508-9586 and asking for the Home BancShares conference call.
A replay of the call will be available until Oct. 25 at (877) 344-7529 and providing the passcode 1012-3959.
Nine analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are projecting that Home BancShares will report net income of 45 cents per share for the quarter.
-- David Smith
Arkansas Index falls 3.47; 9 stocks slip
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 3.47 to 432.30 Wednesday.
Nine stocks declined and six advanced.
"Equity sentiment turned negative in morning trading as the market retraced a portion of Wednesday's rally but stocks recovered to close only slightly lower on the day as weakness in the materials and energy sectors was offset by strength in the financials and communications sectors," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
Total volume for the index was 17.9 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 10/18/2018