diff --git a/extras/rya.streams/client/pom.xml b/extras/rya.streams/client/pom.xml
index 2e49952..6febd64 100644
--- a/extras/rya.streams/client/pom.xml
+++ b/extras/rya.streams/client/pom.xml
@@ -48,6 +48,28 @@
             <artifactId>rya.api</artifactId>
         </dependency>
 
+        <!-- Statement formats we support for loading. -->
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
+            <artifactId>sesame-rio-nquads</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
+       <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
+            <artifactId>sesame-rio-ntriples</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
+            <artifactId>sesame-rio-rdfxml</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
+            <artifactId>sesame-rio-trig</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
+            <artifactId>sesame-rio-turtle</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
+            
         <!-- Third Party dependencies -->
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.beust</groupId>
@@ -79,27 +101,25 @@
     <build>
         <plugins>
             <plugin>
-                <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
-                <configuration>
-                    <descriptorRefs>
-                        <descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>
-                    </descriptorRefs>
-                    <archive>
-                        <manifest>
-                            <mainClass>org.apache.rya.streams.client.CLIDriver</mainClass>
-                        </manifest>
-                    </archive>
-                </configuration>
+                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-shade-plugin</artifactId>
                 <executions>
                     <execution>
-                        <id>make-assembly</id>
                         <phase>package</phase>
                         <goals>
-                            <goal>single</goal>
+                          <goal>shade</goal>
                         </goals>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <transformers>
+                                <transformer implementation="org.apache.maven.plugins.shade.resource.ManifestResourceTransformer">
+                                    <mainClass>org.apache.rya.streams.client.CLIDriver</mainClass>
+                                </transformer>
+                                <transformer implementation="org.apache.maven.plugins.shade.resource.ServicesResourceTransformer" />
+                            </transformers>
+                        </configuration>
                     </execution>
                 </executions>
             </plugin>
         </plugins>
      </build>
-</project>
+</project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/extras/rya.streams/client/src/main/java/org/apache/rya/streams/client/command/LoadStatementsCommand.java b/extras/rya.streams/client/src/main/java/org/apache/rya/streams/client/command/LoadStatementsCommand.java
index 42020b3..bb31830 100644
--- a/extras/rya.streams/client/src/main/java/org/apache/rya/streams/client/command/LoadStatementsCommand.java
+++ b/extras/rya.streams/client/src/main/java/org/apache/rya/streams/client/command/LoadStatementsCommand.java
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@
             statements.fromFile(statementsPath, params.visibilities);
         } catch (final Exception e) {
             System.err.println("Unable to parse statements file: " + statementsPath.toString());
+            e.printStackTrace();
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/extras/rya.streams/kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/rya/streams/kafka/interactor/KafkaLoadStatements.java b/extras/rya.streams/kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/rya/streams/kafka/interactor/KafkaLoadStatements.java
index d3ec650..cf10f6a 100644
--- a/extras/rya.streams/kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/rya/streams/kafka/interactor/KafkaLoadStatements.java
+++ b/extras/rya.streams/kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/rya/streams/kafka/interactor/KafkaLoadStatements.java
@@ -69,8 +69,14 @@
         requireNonNull(statementsPath);
         requireNonNull(visibilities);
 
+        if(!statementsPath.toFile().exists()) {
+            throw new RyaStreamsException("Could not load statements at path '" + statementsPath + "' because that " +
+                    "does not exist. Make sure you've entered the correct path.");
+        }
+
         // Create an RDF Parser whose format is derived from the statementPath's file extension.
-        final RDFParser parser = Rio.createParser(RDFFormat.forFileName(statementsPath.getFileName().toString()));
+        final RDFFormat format = RDFFormat.forFileName(statementsPath.getFileName().toString());
+        final RDFParser parser = Rio.createParser(format);
 
         // Set a handler that writes the statements to the specified kafka topic.
         parser.setRDFHandler(new RDFHandlerBase() {
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 6b2ad61..58cc7c5 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -412,11 +412,31 @@
             </dependency>
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
+                <artifactId>sesame-rio-nquads</artifactId>
+                <version>${openrdf.sesame.version}</version>
+            </dependency>
+           <dependency>
+                <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
+                <artifactId>sesame-rio-ntriples</artifactId>
+                <version>${openrdf.sesame.version}</version>
+            </dependency>
+            <dependency>
+                <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
                 <artifactId>sesame-rio-rdfxml</artifactId>
                 <version>${openrdf.sesame.version}</version>
             </dependency>
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
+                <artifactId>sesame-rio-trig</artifactId>
+                <version>${openrdf.sesame.version}</version>
+            </dependency>
+            <dependency>
+                <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
+                <artifactId>sesame-rio-turtle</artifactId>
+                <version>${openrdf.sesame.version}</version>
+            </dependency>
+            <dependency>
+                <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
                 <artifactId>sesame-queryrender</artifactId>
                 <version>${openrdf.sesame.version}</version>
             </dependency>
@@ -437,21 +457,6 @@
             </dependency>
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
-                <artifactId>sesame-rio-ntriples</artifactId>
-                <version>${openrdf.sesame.version}</version>
-            </dependency>
-            <dependency>
-                <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
-                <artifactId>sesame-rio-nquads</artifactId>
-                <version>${openrdf.sesame.version}</version>
-            </dependency>
-            <dependency>
-                <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
-                <artifactId>sesame-rio-trig</artifactId>
-                <version>${openrdf.sesame.version}</version>
-            </dependency>
-            <dependency>
-                <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
                 <artifactId>sesame-queryalgebra-evaluation</artifactId>
                 <version>${openrdf.sesame.version}</version>
             </dependency>
@@ -462,11 +467,6 @@
             </dependency>
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
-                <artifactId>sesame-rio-turtle</artifactId>
-                <version>${openrdf.sesame.version}</version>
-            </dependency>
-            <dependency>
-                <groupId>org.openrdf.sesame</groupId>
                 <artifactId>sesame-repository-api</artifactId>
                 <version>${openrdf.sesame.version}</version>
             </dependency>