Maritime Professional - October 2013 - page 4

suing a direct “rail to deep water” project in Mobile to
transport Canadian crude via a direct Canadian National
Railway rail link to Gulf Coast customers.
Rounding out recent deals in the GOM region,
Seacor
Holdings Inc.
(CKH) acquired the remaining 50 percent
stake in
C-Lift LLC
for $12.7 million in June. Seacor
Holdings experienced a strong quarter ended June 30,
2013, with net income of $19.3 million, or $0.91 per
diluted share, as compared with $11.2 million and $0.54
last year.
The Pacific Northwest
Looking to the northwest, the maritime landscape has
changed slightly with the completion of a couple of
deals, one of which had its origins in a successful dredg-
ing program. In 2010, the Columbia River channel was
deepened to 43 feet in a project funded by the states
of Oregon and Washington. The successful deepening
has enabled larger ships to operate in Columbia’s ports,
boosting export capacity for regional businesses. On the
downside for
Foss Maritime
, this has also resulted in
fewer but larger ships, which reduced business for their
unionized tug operation, maneuvering large ships in and
out of port and transporting pilots.
Tidewater Barge
Lines
stepped up and announced in April that it would
acquire the Foss tugboat business. Foss had previously
sold selected tug assets to Tidewater back in 2008.
In a more strategic deal,
Lynden
entered into a pur-
chase agreement to buy
Northland Services
from its
major shareholder Endeavor Capital. With the acquisi-
tion, Lynden added tug and barge capacity to expand
its freight service between Alaska, Hawaii and Seattle.
Northland also provides transportation, loading, and
discharge of construction project-related cargoes; con-
tract barge services; charter cargo hauling services to
the Russian Federation and Japan; and cargo stevedoring
services to general containerized freight and specialized
machinery. Lynden is a family of freight and logistics
companies that includes Alaska Marine Lines, which
also provides tug and barge transportation services be-
tween Seattle and Southeast and Central Alaska.
Looking Forward
Despite the slight falloff in deal activity during the past
12 months in the various marine segments (Figure 1),
the environment remains reasonably attractive for both
consolidation and investment. A few of the likely driving
factors for future deal flow:
Regulatory:
Environmental, safety and other
regulatory changes are usually accompanied by deal
flow, as less agile companies struggle and proactive
organizations look to capitalize on their adaptive
capabilities.
Energy Demand:
Despite its boom and bust
nature, the energy industry will likely continue on
a secular expansion path, with competing business
models and asset-holders driving deal flow.
Aging Infrastructure/Fleets:
Companies that
successfully balance investment risk in upgraded
assets with fluctuations in demand often find them-
selves in an enviable position to acquire less strate-
gic-minded companies in the long run.
Emerging Needs:
New demands driven by hot
market segments and new technologies are always a
driver of deal-making. For example, many large
future dredging projects, and AUV/ROV technology
are both likely to spur acquisition activity.
Of course, all of this depends upon a reasonably
healthy financial picture and at least some promise of
economic growth, both of which seem more difficult
to predict than market segment drivers.
Reprinted with Permission from the Q3 edition of Maritime Professional
Insights
The Author
Harry Ward
leads the
transportation and logistics
practice at The McLean
Group, a middle-market
investment bank based in the Washington, DC area. Mr.
Ward has executive management experience in the marine
industry and focuses on mergers and acquisitions for mid-sized
companies. He is a US Naval Academy graduate and earned
an MBA at San Diego State University.
1,2,3 4
Powered by FlippingBook