About
Alter Logistics
A Transloading Logistics Company
Established in 1898 as a scrap metal processing firm, Alter Company added Alter Barge Line, Inc. to better align with our capabilities at the time.
Company Overview & History
Then
In 1960, Alter started shipping scrap and a multitude of other products along the inland river system.
Throughout the years, we acquired barge fleeting operations in the Quad Cities area, Muscatine, IA and New Orleans, LA. Additionally securing prime real estate along the river system including major marine river terminals in Rock Island, IL, Davenport, IA and St Paul, MN.
In 2011, the majority of the barge line assets were sold but it retained all of its river-related real estate including the primary terminals in St. Paul and Rock Island. These have become very busy marine intermodal terminals with room for growth and expansion. Additionally, we have many other sites with truck, rail and barge access available for new development.
Now
Alter Logistics is a stable, ethical company eager to satisfy our customer’s transloading and warehousing needs. Our terminal asset footprint along the major navigable waterway bisects the continental U.S.
We opportunistically provide transportation modal exchange for bulk products at our locations to increase fixed asset utilization and create new market accesses for shippers. The more efficient and more precise we are at helping you manage your product inventories to, at and from our sites, the more value we provide you. Our goal is to build long-term relationships as a valued contributor within your supply chain network.
isn’t just for you to repeat the cycle with us thanks to the addition to your bottom line but to build a long-term relationship for years to come and become an integrated part of your supply chain network.
Simply put, we provide a conduit for materials to flow into the Midwest region and beyond and we do so in a cost-effective, timely solution to material flow.
Check out our services that include:
Customer Service
Our facilities are 100% customer service-based for efficiently handling and warehousing materials and associated logistics. Everything we do is focused on solving our customers’ problems.
We are a company ever-striving towards process improvement, new projects and customer satisfaction.
Years of expertise, efficient and safe operations, precise management and proactive alignment with your success. We succeed when your supply chains work and your supply chains only work if your products are available to your markets exactly when they need to be and at a lower delivered cost than your competitors.
We offer continual improvement, constant communication with our customers and team members, quick adaptation to your changing needs, recognizing/rewarding our team members who go above and beyond.
We are committed to providing fair and competitive rates.
We’re not boastful but we are proud of our work and happy to be a part of yours knowing that the products we put through our facility provide real value. For example, the salt we send out that keeps our roads safe for travel and the fertilizer we handle that grows the crops we need.
We have the capacity to grow!
We are willing and able to expand with internal capital investment. We are looking for new acquisitions and/or joint ventures to expand our core business and diversify product lines (bulk, special project, finished materials, liquid products, lumber, construction, etc.).
Logistics Services
Transportation problems? We have access to assets with strategic transportation and logistics capabilities and we have the financial backing and access to capital to build facilities for long-term logistics solutions. In other words, we have the ability to find a logistics solution to your supply chain challenges, whatever they might be!
Customer service behaviors critical to success include:
- Safe Operations
- Low-Cost Efficiency
- Precision
- Executing with Urgency
Transloading Services
You are the shipper and we are the marine intermodal service to keep your goods moving quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively across the country. With our transload services, you can connect, create and enable access to new markets and competitive advantages for your products. It is the main artery to our ability to best serve you and you are our lifeblood!
Perhaps you are a small or large business seeking a complete transload avenue, moving your goods from door to door. We work with producers, traders and shippers from very large international entities to mid-sized local companies. We work for the agricultural, salt, steel/metal, aluminum, aggregate sectors, coops, local businesses and city and state entities.
Transload Development Network
Our terminals and facilities service a global network with product shipped from sources, such as:
- New Orleans
- Canada (Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta)
- Central/South America (Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala)
- Africa / Middle East (Morocco, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey)
- China
- Australia
Visit the map on our home page to learn more about each location and our full transload development network. Just click on the button below!
Our Leadership Team
Unlike large organizations, our small and nimble management team allows for quick problem-solving. We are set up so that we can easily adapt to our customers’ needs and a large part of that is giving our terminal managers as much operational latitude as needed to solve problems.
Alter Logistics is privately owned with public facilities. We have many years of experience throughout our company. Our leadership is committed to remaining versatile and willing to invest to “build to suit” for our individual customers.
Jeff Goldstein
Chairman and CEO
Jeffrey Goldstein and his brothers, Robert and Richard, represent the fourth generation of family ownership in the Alter Company. Goldstein has been associated with the Alter Companies for over fifty years, serving in various management roles.
In September 1997, Goldstein was named President of Alter Barge Line, Inc. (later renamed Alter Logistics Company in February 2012) and was given overall responsibility for the company’s related transportation entities which included Alter River Terminal Davenport, Inc., Alter Trucking and Terminal Corporation, and Alter River Terminal Rock Island.
In January 2000, Goldstein was elected to the post of Chairman/President of Alter Company (parent company of Alter Logistics Company), headquartered in Bettendorf, Iowa.
In October 2009, Goldstein was named Vice Chairman of Goldstein Group, Inc., parent company of Alter Company and Alter Trading Corporation.
Goldstein is the Executive Vice President of affiliate Alter Trading Corporation, a company engaged in the business of scrap metal recycling.
He is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Tom Streight
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
Tom Streight began his career with Alter in 1987 hiring on as dispatcher for our two harbor fleets in Davenport and Muscatine, IA. In addition to his role as a dispatcher, in 1988 Blackhawk Fleet promoted him to Accounts Receivable Manager. Later that same year, Alter Barge Line, Inc. transferred him to their corporate office as a dispatcher. In this capacity he assisted in all facets of boat management, evaluating expenses and revenues, and implementing plans to assure profitable and efficient trips.
In 2012, Alter Barge Line, Inc. changed its name to Alter Logistics Company. Streight retained his role as Vice President of Sales and has been involved in new business development working with marketing and sales of Alter River Terminals and Alter Logistics.
Streight is a member of Inland River Ports & Terminals, Midwest Association of Rail Shippers, Mississippi Valley Trade & Transport Council, Illinois River Carriers Association, Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association, Illinois Soybean Association, Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association and others.
Paul Ferguson
Senior Vice President
Paul Ferguson is Senior Vice President of Alter Logistics where he oversees the operations and business management and development of the company.
Prior to joining Alter Logistics team in 2021, he served as the General Manager of Ceres Global Ag Corp’s logistics and supply chain management business sector.
His experience includes facility operations, industrial development/logistics and supply chain management in the fertilizer, energy and industrial products industries in both Canada and the USA.
Ferguson received a Bachelor of Science degree (chem) from the University of Alberta, Canada, and an MBA in Business Administration from Walden University in Minneapolis, MN.