Heavy Lift Alliance Gets Bigger With Addition of Intermarine

 

Three years ago, heavy lift operators Jumbo and SAL lifted a page from the liner sector and entered into an alliance agreement. That model has been successful enough that they are now adding a third member, Intermarine, which operates smaller multipurpose vessels in the Americas. 

The new JSI Alliance merges all three shipowners' commercial activities for breakbulk and project cargo. The alliance will have one single customer-facing sales and marketing organization and will share a network of offices around the world. Taken together, the partners' fleets include 50 ships, from Intermarine's smallest 6,000 dwt multipurpose vessels up to Jumbo's biggest 14,000 dwt heavy lift ship. Crane crane lift capacities range from 80-3,000 tonnes. In addition, SAL has also recently added two semisubmersible float-on/float-off heavy lift ships and a series of ultra-efficient vessels aimed at the wind market. 

“This is a great step for Intermarine and a significant milestone for us in our over 35 years of business. We’re a sister company to SAL, which means we’ve had some cooperation up to this point. But forming a real commercial joint venture and alliance marks the beginning of a new and greater adventure," said Intermarine President Richard Seeg in a statement. 

The partners plan to use the new alliance structure to serve a bigger and more diverse market, including liner/semi-liner services, solutions for small parcels and (as would be expected) their signature big moves for industrial mega-sized cargoes. Intermarine has extensive experience in operating chartered-in tonnage, which is expected to add more flexibility and new options (even using bulkers). 

"Every customer, from EPCs and industrial equipment manufacturers to project freight forwarders, will find transport services that can benefit their business and projects in our new constellation," said Laurens Govers, the director of chartering and projects at Jumbo.