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Anchor Marine Sold Out to Augustea
01 Jun 2004
Britain's largest independent deep-sea barge operator, Anchor Marine Transportation Ltd , has been purchased by the Italian Augustea Group . In a deal concluded early in May Augustea made the purchase through one of its Italian based companies - Augustea Imprese Marittime e di Salvataggi SpA (Augustea).
Anchor Marine Transportation (AMT) was formed in 1994 as a management buyout from The Alexandra Towing Company Ltd and has concentrated its activities on owning and operating barges on a worldwide basis, chartering tugs as and when required. With a fleet of seven barges ranging from 5,000 tonnes to 25,500 tonnes, four of which are submersible, AMT has established itself most successfully as a leading contractor operating in Northern Europe, the Gulf of Mexico, the Arabian Gulf and West Africa.
The company has also operated in the Far East where they have carried out a number of operations such as the recent transport of the 6,000 tonne Yolla jack up production platform from Batam Indonesia to the Bass Strait in Australia.
Augustea already own and operate an extensive fleet of ocean-going tugs, harbour tugs and submersible deck cargo barges.
With this acquisition and with its existing expertise the group will expand its activities to become a major operator of submersible deck cargo barges and one of the major players in the worldwide barge transportation market.
Anchor Marine will continue to operate as an autonomous UK company but with strategic support from the larger Group.
Plans for the further development of the two companies are already underway including investment in new tugs and barges. Augustea predict that, following the acquisition of AMT, the turnover generated by tug/barge activities within the Group will become approximately the 20% of the overall Group turnover.
Following this acquisition AMT will loose two of its founder members. Captain Dick Braithwaite who was instrumental in establishing the company has retired and Alastair Mack who undertook the role of Operations Director from the Company's inception to the present day will leave. The company concentrated entirely on the efficient operation of their barge fleet worldwide often arranging towage, where necessary, through a number of established tug operators with which they have developed a long association. This formula obviously worked successfully and in tonnage terms AMT became a significant operator under the British register.
Augustea is owned by the Zagari-Cafiero family, operators of towage services in the Sicilian ports of Augusta, Siracusa and Catania. The Group's activities include the operation of 50 deep-sea ships, including Panamax and handy-size dry-bulk carriers. This latest acquisition follows a strategic decision made by the Group some years ago to concentrate its energy and resources on the dry cargo sector dismissing its wet tonnage and re-aligning the tug and barge operations.
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