Blackson Arrow

Blackson Arrow: The Friendly and Capable Contracted Services Provider

Briefly introduce me to Blackson

Arrow

Blackson Arrow is a facility management and services company that provides specialized facility operations and maintenance services, as well as aviationrelated services such as airfield management, logistics, and bulk fuels facilities operations to both commercial customers and the U.S. Government. Additionally, since many of our operations are at the intersection of oil and gas, and aviation, Blackson Arrow has become a leading provider of advisory services related to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) logistics solutions.

Founded by U.S. Air Force veteran, Mike Blackson, we are classified as a disabled veteranowned small business. The firm operates in many locations around the US, such as Littlestown, Pennsylvania; Mountain Home, Idaho; Las Vegas, Nevada; Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina and Merritt Island, Florida. The company currently has just over 100 employees.

Blackson Arrow is committed to friendly, capable, and competent service to their clients. We continuously strive to improve our processes and operations to meet the challenges of the ever-changing marketplace.

What are some of the recent projects that you are most interested in showcasing?

Blackson Arrow recently partnered with Mahoney Environmental Solutions (Mahoney) to provide maintenance and repair on over 20,000 of Mahoney’s used cooking oil (UCO) storage tanks installed in restaurants across the US. In addition, we also coordinate the installation of new USO storage tanks in restaurants that do not yet have Mahoney’s system installed. Our extensive facilities management expertise and network of providers across the country enable us to provide these services in a manner tailored to Mahoney’s specific needs. This project also ties in nicely with our experience with sustainable aviation fuels and their component systems across the entire SAF ecosystem. From the smallest system in a single restaurant to a large bulk fuel storage facility holding millions of barrels, we are able to provide installation, operations, and maintenance services to the entire portfolio of equipment. These systems collect millions of gallons of used cooking oil each day that is collected by Mahoney, filtered and refined as a feedstock additive to produce SAF.

For several commercial consortiums that own large bulk fuel storage facilities on or near

airports, we provide our integrated facilities management approach to these facilities that is unique from the other refuelling companies typically hired to provide bulk storage management. Coming from what the U.S. Government calls base operations services, we are able to manage the entire suite of facilities-related services, from providing reliability engineering and preventive maintenance on these complex systems to mowing the grass and even cleaning the facilities under a single contract umbrella structure.

What, for you, differentiates your business from the competition?

Blackson Arrow differentiates itself from the competition in that we are a facilities management company that also provides a variety of support services to our clients in a number of ways. For example, we have over 20 years of experience in airfield management, into-plane fueling, logistics, and bulk fuels operations and storage. This operational knowledge gives us a deep understanding of the challenges faced by clients and allows them to provide customized solutions that meet their specific needs detailed to both their infrastructure portfolio and the value chain served by that portfolio. On the facilities side, we have a team of professionals highly experienced and qualified in

maintenance engineering, reliability, and management of third-party vendors.

Could you tell us about some of the major challenges faced within the industry and then detail how these have been overcome?

Blackson Arrow has faced a number of challenges in the past, including:

• Competition: Facilities management, airfield management,

logistics, and bulk fuels operations and storage industries are exceedingly competitive. Blackson Arrow has had to compete with larger, more well-established companies in order to win contracts.

• Regulations: The government agencies that Blackson Arrow contracts with have a complex set of regulations that must be followed. Blackson Arrow has had to invest

in training and resources in order to ensure that they are compliant with all applicable regulations.

Blackson Arrow has overcome these challenges by:

• A focus on customer service: Blackson Arrow is committed to providing excellent customer service. We have a team of experienced and knowledgeable professionals dedicated to meeting the needs of their clients.

In October 2022, Blackson Arrow began a partnership with Mahoney Environmental to install and maintain over 20,000 used cooking oil (UCO) storage systems in restaurants across the US. These systems allow Mahoney to collect millions of gallons of used cooking oil each day that is then filtered and refined into a sustainable jet fuel additive used to produce SAF.

At the heart of our operation is our state of the art National Coordination Center (NCC) in Merritt Island, Florida. The NCC is to Blackson Arrow what Mission Control is to NASA. We like to say that each morning we start out with a Rubik’s Cube, and we spend the day lining up everything – maintenance, equipment, weather, technical difficulties, monitoring, and much more to keep

these systems running and our customers happy. The strength of our approach comes from a relentless focus on performance management and coordination of work activities. Using our advanced maintenance management system and relying on our years of expert facilities O&M experience, the NCC integrates and manages hundreds of vendors and technicians by providing the strategic and tactical decision-making that keeps these systems running. Here, our customer service team of dispatchers are directly responsible for the oversight and movement of our technicians and service providers.

Contact us today to learn more about how Blackson Arrow can help you reduce your carbon footprint and achieve your sustainability goals.

BLACKSON ARROW IS A LEADING PROVIDER OF SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUEL (SAF) LOGISTICS SOLUTIONS.

Investing in technology: Blackson Arrow invested in technology to improve their efficiency and productivity. This allows us to reduce costs and improve the quality of our services

As a result of these efforts, Blackson Arrow has remained a successful company in a challenging industry. We have positioned our company for continued growth in the years to come.

Here are some specific examples of how Blackson Arrow overcame challenges:

• In 2009, the economic downturn led to a decrease in government spending. Blackson Arrow responded by reducing costs and focusing on providing high-quality services. As a result, we were able to win new contracts and maintain profitability.

• In 2022, Blackson Arrow made a bold move to become the leader in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) logistics solutions and now installs and maintains over 20,000 used cooking oil (UCO) storage systems in restaurants across the US.

What are your major future ambitions going forward and how will these goals be achieved?

Our future is all about supporting sustainable power solutions and the infrastructure associated with these upcoming changes. We are now providing support and advisory services related to SAF, electric

and battery-powered systems, and hydrogen-powered systems as the aerospace industry moves toward an ambitious goal of de-carbonizing by the year 2050. For example, in the SAF arena, both SAF blended fuels and neat SAF can use the existing bulk storage and transfer systems in place today. However, to meet the coming demand, it is likely that production facilities will have to be installed on, or close to airports and seaports that are much closer to the end user of the commodity. These are new and different systems at these locations that must be operated and maintained to support the end users. Additionally, to be truly sustainable, these systems must be powered by sustainable power, which in turn means new and different power production will also be needed in these locations. Further, the move to more battery or fuelcell-powered ground equipment and aircraft will require new and different infrastructure than what exists today. Ultimately, entirely new heavy-power systems, such as hydrogen-powered airliners and large cargo planes will replace the large fleets of fossil fuel-powered vehicles of today. This will result in extensive infrastructure evolutions in places like airports.

What does the next 12 months look like for the business?

Blackson Arrow is very excited about the next 12 months. We

believe there will be a strong continued need for specialized facilities management, ground handling, logistics support, and bulk fuels management.

Here are some of the trends that are expected to drive growth in this industry in the coming year:

• Explosive growth in aviation: Commercial aviation alone will see a near doubling of passenger and cargo numbers by 2036. What is certain is that innovations in sustainable fuel, technology, and approaches will be needed to sustain this growth.

• Expansion of drone operations and urban air mobility.

• Increased demand for training and education: As the aviation industry evolves, there is a growing demand for training and education. Businesses, like Blackson Arrow that can provide training and education solutions to the aviation industry will be well-positioned for growth.

Because innovation is in our blood, Blackson Arrow is wellpositioned to capitalize on the emerging environmental trends as well as the explosive growth that will drive our industry into the future.