Asset purchases and joint venture business illustrate towage opportunities in Alaska, South America and Australia
Asset purchases and joint venture business illustrate towage opportunities in Alaska, South America and Australia
Three business deals in Q1 2019 highlighted three different growth opportunities in the tug sector. One demonstrated the potential for business in the Arctic, another indicated investment in South America and a third brought more experience into Australian towage.
Chile-headquartered Sociedad Matriz SAAM is set to acquire Royal Boskalis Westminster (Boskalis)’s equity stake in the SAAM Smit Towage joint venture for US$201M.
SAAM will acquire 49% of the business in Mexico, Panama and Canada and 50% in Brazil. In aggregate, these operations reported revenue of US$205M in 2018 and had an enterprise value of US$560M.
SAAM chief executive Macario Valdés said it was time to “take another step forward” in his company’s growth and operations as towage is a core area of its business.
He expects SAAM will “play an important role in consolidating and growing this industry” as it already operates in 60 ports in the Americas.
“We perform over 100,000 towage manoeuvres each year. Every five minutes we begin a new manoeuvre somewhere in the Americas. This is a business we want to strengthen and develop for the future,” Mr Valdés commented.
SAAM Smit Towage operates a fleet of 106 tugs, operating in 30 ports in four countries, including three of the five most important terminals in the Americas: Santos (Brazil) and Colón and Balboa (Panama).
In Australia, Boskalis subsidiary Smit Lamnalco has formed a joint venture with Engage Marine to collaborate on towage services. These companies will jointly develop future business in Australia, but will continue to operate existing business independently from this newly formed venture. Engage operates five tugs in Port Jackson and the Port of Geelong.
In January 2019, Foss Maritime subsidiary Cook Inlet Tug & Barge acquired assets operated by Crowley in northern Alaska. This included tugs, barges, heavy machinery and other vehicles operating in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
At the time of the deal, Foss chief executive and president John Parrott said this purchase “offered us the opportunity to expand our Alaska operations” and that part of the attraction was the assets already positioned on the North Slope.
Cook Inlet Tug & Barge senior business development director Mike O’Shea said the tug and barge shallow draught design made them ideal for operations on the North Slope and that “the vessels are all in excellent condition”.
This acquisition includes four tugs, of which three have an overall length of 19.5 m and 817 kW of power. These each have three Caterpillar CAT 343D engines and 1 m draught. The fourth tug, renamed Colville Wind, has 14.6 m length, 545 kW of power, two CAT 3408 engines and 1 m draught.
Foss communications manager Loren Skaggs told Tug Technology & Business that the deal also included purchasing five barges and heavy equipment for shoreside support, including a 350-tonne crane.
Following the acquisition, Cook Inlet Tug & Barge intends to streamline its operations by partnering with established shoreside service providers in Prudhoe Bay.
Mr Skaggs said Foss already has assets in the Arctic, to support mining operations and oil projects in Alaska and northern Canada.
“We are using the winter months to identify and engage with potential customers, and to plan for work to be performed in Q2 and Q3 2019. These assets will help us perform a variety of work in Alaska and Canada,” he said.
Also in North America, Kirby Corp is in the process of acquiring the marine transportation fleet of Cenac Marine Services for around US$244M in cash. This purchase agreement comes as the inland transportation sector is encountering rising demand and barge utilisation levels and when Kirby is retiring older units.
Cenac’s fleet includes 34 inland towboats and 2 offshore tugboats, plus 63 inland tank barges, each with capacity of around 30,000 barrels. In total, this fleet can transport approximately 1.9M barrels of oil on the lower Mississippi River, its tributaries, and Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
These tank barges are designed to transport petrochemicals, refined products, and black oil, including crude oil, residual fuels, feedstocks and lubricants for major oil companies and refineries in the US.
TUGS | PREVIOUS NAME | POWER | MAIN ENGINES | LOA | BREADTH | DRAUGHT |
Sag Wind | SAG RIVER | 817 kW | (3) x CAT 343D | 19.5 m | 8.2 m | 1 m |
Kuparuk Wind | Kuparuk River | 817 kW | (3) x CAT 343D | 19.5 m | 8.2 m | 1 m |
Kavik Wind | Kavik River | 817 kW | (3) x CAT 343D | 19.5 m | 8.2 m | 1 m |
Colville Wind | Ballaya Kuropatka | 545 kW | (2) x CAT 3408 | 14.6 m | 6.9 m | 1 m |
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