TEPPCO Marine Services LLC, Houston TX, has acquired certain assets of Horizon Maritime LLC, a Houston-based provider of marine transportation services for a variety of crude oil-based products, for approximately $87 million.
The acquired assets include seven push boats and 17 barges that transport asphalt, bunker fuel, and other oil products that require heated barges to storage facilities and refineries along the Mississippi, Illinois, and Ohio rivers, as well as the Intracoastal Waterway. Included in the transaction are two additional boats currently under construction which are scheduled for delivery in 2008.
The transaction, completed February 29, is TEPPCO’s second major acquisition of marine transportation assets in the past month. On February 1, the partnership completed a $500-million purchase of vessels and the economic benefit of related contracts from Houma LA-based Cenac Towing Inc, a barge industry marine transportation company. The assets purchased from Horizon Maritime will be operated by Cenac Towing under a services agreement.
With the completion of the Horizon transaction, TEPPCO’s marine transportation business is now comprised of 51 push boats, including the two scheduled for delivery in 2008, and 106 barges.