New Heavy Lift Set Up Follows Acquisition with Potential Benefits for Both Parties

THE AMERICAS – After announcing at the end of last year that it would be expanding its fleet, SAL Heavy Lift, these days a part of the Harren & Partner Group, has now acquired Intermarine, a long time player in the market with a fleet of multi-purpose heavy lift vessels that are IMO and Lakes fitted and with lifting capacities up to 400 tonnes SWL.

For three decades Intermarine has provided break bulk liner services between North America and South America and throughout the Caribbean, in combination with a strong intra-South America trading network. The new set up will commence operations immediately under the guidance of Intermarine veterans Mr Richard Seeg as President and Mr Chad Call as Vice President and CFO, but as a part of the SAL group.

New to the management team is CEO and shareholder Mr. Svend Andersen, who, with his four decades in the break bulk and multi-purpose sector was part of Intermarine in the early days of his career, Svend is now back on board and brings valuable strategic insight and commercial experience to the table. Together this management trio will develop the Intermarine business moving forward. He says:

“The joining of Intermarine with the SAL organization is a perfect matching of two companies which share the same basic set of values and business philosophy yet with a different fleet of vessels, resources and outreach. In combination, it makes an unmatched setup in cross-Atlantic trading and intra-Americas heavy lift shipping.

”I have invested in this venture, as I see great prospects in bringing the Intermarine brand and business onwards under the helm and support by SAL Heavy Lift as a top brand in the heavy lift shipping industry.”

Henceforth Intermarine will tie its Americas liner service to SAL’s global heavy lift trade enabling the German headquartered project freight group to enlarge its footprint in the Americas by offering a wider range of shipping opportunities and scope of services to both existing and new customers. With the acquisition of Intermarine, SAL’s customers can benefit from more vessels being able to operate not only in and out of South America, but also into offsite river deltas, where SAL would otherwise have had limited access.

For Intermarine customers the deal means access to the heavy lift fleet of SAL, which, as the largest operator of +900 tonne SWL vessels in the world, can connect cargo between the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. Martin Harren, SAL CEO, commented:

“We have for a while been looking at expanding our services in the Americas, and with Intermarine now being part of the SAL Group, we can enable further trade across the Atlantic, combining important trade between Africa, South America, North America and Europe. We could instantly see the great synergy effects between Intermarine and SAL.

"When we can combine our already strong sales setup in the US with the know-how from resources like Richard Seeg, Chad Call, and lastly Svend Andersen, who I have known and worked with for many years, I see a very powerful setup unfold.”

Photo: The Intermarine fleet reaches parts others cannot.