West Gulf Marine acquired by Maritime Partners
Maritime Partners, LLC, a leading provider of maritime solutions primarily focused on Jones Act vessels, has announced the acquisition of Texas-based West Gulf Marine Ltd, a family-owned shipyard with a strategic position in the inland tank barge market niche.
Founded and headquartered in Galveston, Texas, West Gulf Marine specialises in the construction of tank barges used to transport black oil, petrochemicals, refined products, and more along the inland and intracoastal waterways, serving many of the country’s major operators, including Kirby Corp, Canal Barge Company, Enterprise Product Partners.
President Bryan Fiegel and Vice President Keith Fiegel have grown the business over the past 40 years to become one of the premier barge builders for the inland maritime sector.
The company started as an offshoot of their father Harry Fiegel’s Galveston Shipbuilding Company, a leader in the construction of ocean-going tank barges.
Bryan Fiegel said:
“We started a new operation focused on the inland sector, and after building our first barges for Cenac Towing, we developed a strong following among the leading inland tank barge operators.
“Brown Gibbons Lang & Company did an incredible job positioning and communicating our story to the market which enabled us to find Maritime Partners who will usher in a new era of growth while maintaining the culture and dedication to building a premium product.”
“It is great to be selling the business to a group that understands the maritime culture and will preserve the legacy of the business.
“This will provide Maritime Partners with a first-class operation that will complement their fleet needs while continuing to service the inland customers that West Gulf has served for decades.”
Maritime Partners is a leading provider of maritime solutions, managing a diversified fleet of approximately 1,800 vessels, specialising in vessels that are used in the domestic Jones Act trades.
A privately held company founded in 2015, Maritime Partners provides the assets that transport the commodities that represent the primary building blocks of the domestic economy, including agricultural products, chemicals, aggregates, crude oil, and refined petroleum products.
Bick Brooks, Chief Executive Officer of Maritime Partners, commented:
“At Maritime Partners, our strategic focus is on the reliable, long-term, asset-intensive businesses that form the critical infrastructure of the US maritime industry.
“Our established leadership position across maritime verticals provides us with a uniquely wide perspective to identify opportunities and synergies that are often unrealized by legacy market participants. In West Gulf Marine, we see a unique, niche investment opportunity to empower a proven player in a strategically important market segment that is deeply familiar to us and immediately additive to our core business.”
Jacob Brown, a veteran of the inland marine industry with over 20 years of leadership experience, has been selected to serve as CEO of the shipyard.
He concluded:
“I am thrilled to join the business and aim to sustain the standard of excellence and reliability that Bryan, Keith, and the Fiegel family have established over a period of decades. By building quality tank barges on time and on budget for players across the market, we have a critically important role to play in supporting both the US inland marine sector and the overall US industrial base.”
Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL), an independent investment bank and financial advisory firm, acted as financial advisor to West Gulf Marine in the transaction.