Redwood Completes Canal Barge Purchase
As first announced in June, investment firm Redwood Holdings successfully completed its acquisition of New Orleans-based Canal Barge Company in early September. The acquisition of Canal Barge and all its subsidiaries–which include Illinois Marine Towing and the IMT-Lemont Shipyard, Canal Terminal Company, Canal Analytical & Environmental Services and Pelican Marine Services in Houston–was structured through a newly formed holding company controlled by Redwood.
Canal Barge and Marquette Transportation are now part of the same holding company, though Canal Barge will maintain its headquarters office in New Orleans and Marquette will maintain its headquarters office in Paducah, Ky.
Over time, “the Canal Barge and Marquette teams will work together to capitalize on the strengths and expertise of each organization, creating opportunities for employees and expanding their combined service capabilities,” the company said in announcing the acquisition last summer.
According to terms announced in June, H. Merritt Lane III, president, CEO and chairman of the board of Canal Barge Company, was to become CEO of the new holding company while continuing in his roles at Canal Barge. David Lane was to continue as executive vice president of Canal Barge. John Eckstein, executive chairman of Marquette Transportation, was to serve as executive chairman of the holding company. Damon Judd, president and CEO of Marquette, was to become president of the holding company.
Both leaders in the inland, Jones Act market, Canal Barge and Marquette bring operational diversity to the holding company. Canal Barge is a leading carrier in liquid cargos and a provider of marine transportation, logistics, terminaling and harbor services, while Marquette is a lead provider of barge towing services for the dry cargo and liquid cargo markets, with river, Gulf and offshore segments. The acquisition makes Redwood one of the largest owners of towboats and barges in the country.
Canal Barge Company was founded in 1933 by Joseph Merrick Jones with one barge and a capital investment of $10,000 in the midst of the Great Depression. That same year, Canal Barge began operating the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway’s first all-welded steel tank barge. In the 92 years since then, Canal Barge has grown to include more than 900 tank, hopper and deck barges, 49 towboats and more than 900 employees.
Ray Eckstein founded what is now the River division of Marquette Transportation Company in 1978 in Cassville, Wis. Over time, Marquette joined with two other family-owned businesses—Eckstein Marine Services and HLC Tugs—to form the company’s Gulf-inland and Offshore divisions. In the 1990s, Ray Eckstein named his son, John Eckstein, as president of the company. John later succeeded his father as CEO. Today, Marquette’s more than 1,700 mariners and shoreside employees oversee a fleet of more than 130 towboats and tugboats across the Mississippi River and its tributaries, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and along the coast. Earlier this year, Marquette announced a $5 million expansion of its headquarters in Paducah, including a new training center, warehouse and additional office space.
