Shamrock Marine Acquires Crewboats, Docks From Ingram

Baton Rouge, La.-based Shamrock Marine has been serving river pilots, towing companies and tug operators on the Lower Mississippi River for more than two decades.

What started in 2004 as a launch service with a single crewboat and dock in Plaquemine, La., at Lower Mississippi River Mile 199 has grown into an expansive launch, dock, fleeting, supply, warehousing and horsepower-for-hire operation. Owned by Duncan Armentor and Victor Calvaruso, Shamrock Marine’s area of operation now stretches from its Baton Rouge flagship dock at Mile 229 to Reserve. The company even has a warehouse in Channelview, Texas.

Armentor, a veteran river pilot with the New Orleans-Baton Rouge Steamship Pilots Association (NOBRA), recently announced a dramatic expansion for Shamrock Marine involving the acquisition from Ingram Barge Company of former Weber Marine- and SCF Marine-owned crewboats and crewboat docks.

“I think the way it happened is that Weber Marine sold out to SCF a while back,” Armentor said. “SCF was operating the crewboats and the fleeting, and then Ingram came in and bought SCF.”

Not long after Ingram acquired SCF in late 2023, Armentor reached out to Ingram to express interest in buying the SCF crewboats.

“I just threw our name in the hat and said, ‘Hey, the crewboat piece may not be your cup of tea,’” Armentor said. “‘If you ever wish to sell it, we’d really be interested, because that fits right into our model.’”

In the end, when Armentor and Ingram closed the deal this past summer, Ingram sold not only the crewboats to Shamrock Marine but also docks at Lower Mississippi River Miles 180 (Geismar), 175 (Darrow), 167 (Convent) and 136 (Reserve).

“That means we’ve expanded 200 percent from our original two locations, now to six locations,” Armentor said. “We’ve acquired about 21 of the old Weber boats in various conditions. Some of them are out in the field, working and operational. We have about eight of them at my shipyard, and we have a really aggressive rebuild and refit program.”

Armentor said he’s replacing the cabins aboard the crewboats and repowering them, among other improvements. Even as he was negotiating the acquisition with Ingram, Armentor was busy upgrading his shipyard on the Port Allen Canal so that, as soon as the acquisition was complete, his team would be able to pick up the boats and get right to work.

“What we have now is legit,” Armentor said of the former M&P Shipyard in Plaquemines, La., on the Port Allen Canal.

At the shipyard, Armentor’s team has added a 100-ton crane, built a fabrication shop and is tying in high-voltage electricity service. There’s also a new-built engine repair and rebuild bay. Included in the fabrication shop is a tunnel with a rolling cradle, which allows two crewboats to be loaded inside the building at a time.

“That way, they can continue working during inclement weather,” Armentor said. “It’s been a huge transformation over the last year.”

Midship Marine on the Harvey Canal in the New Orleans area is building the cabins, which are then transported two at a time up to Armentor’s shipyard.

“At the shipyard, we’re decapitating all of these old crew boats, cutting the whole cabins off, pulling the motors out and sending them off to be rebuilt,” Armentor said. “They come back, and we’re assembling all of the boats. We’re revitalizing the entire fleet.”

Shamrock Marine is also busy upgrading its newly acquired docks. The dock at Mile 180 is getting a warehouse across the entire barge. Supplies will be stored inside the warehouse, with crewboats moored on the riverside of the dock, available for making crew changes or delivering supplies midstream.

The Mile 175 dock will resemble the company’s expansive facility in Baton Rouge. That project will take another year or two to be completed.

“There will be a giant ‘mama dock’ at 175 where we’ll have warehousing facilities, drive-on access so you can get heavy parts and supplies to your boats and crane access,” Armentor said. “We’re really full-tilt in replicating what we’ve got up here in Baton Rouge and at Carville.”

The docks at Mile 167 and Mile 136 will similarly offer warehouse space and launch services, initially on a smaller scale. The docks also will feature gangways from the shore to allow access in any river condition. That’s key for supply delivery, crew change and vessel access for repairs and dockside maintenance.

Each dock will be able to accept supply deliveries and store palletized supplies. Companies can either hire Shamrock to deliver goods to vessels or they can come alongside the docks and take on supplies themselves. Shamrock Marine offers warehouse tracking through its own mobile app.

In addition to this significant expansion, Shamrock Marine has been offering horsepower-for-hire and tripping services through the Port Allen Lock for the past three years, following the company’s 2022 acquisition of M&P Barge Company. The company has eight towboats in its fleet, with a ninth towboat due out shortly.

Amazingly, Armentor is leading Shamrock Marine’s operations and expansion while continuing to work as a NOBRA pilot, seven days on and seven days off. His vision for Shamrock Marine continues to grow out of his experience as a pilot, when he saw a need for launch services below Baton Rouge and took action to fill that void.

“Seeing how we’ve been so well received by our customers up here in Baton Rouge and in Carville, it was a no-brainer,” Armentor said, speaking of the Ingram acquisition. “When we were given the opportunity to move downriver with four more locations, all we have to do is use our same business strategy with our equipment, docks and business model. If we do that, people will come.”

Featured image caption: A Shamrock Marine crewboat speeds down the Lower Mississippi River. (Photo courtesy of Shamrock Marine)