Centerline Buys Saltchuk's California Bunker Business

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday December 30, 2020

US marine transportation services firm Centerline Logistics has announced it has acquired Saltchuk Marine Services' bunker business in California.

The subsidiary is currently operated by Foss Maritime Company.

Hailed as a "major acquisition", the deal will see Centerline acquire Foss's six bunker barges along with its established customer contracts in the California market.

The pair will work together to provide continuity of services during the ownership transition, it added.

Centerline already operates eight bunker barges in the Californian ports of Los Angeles and San Francisco as part of its wider national fleet of marine transportation vessels serving customers along the West Coast, Gulf Coast, and East Coast.

"As one of the largest bunkering operators in the United States, we are excited about the synergies
this acquisition will deliver to our customers," said Matt Godden, President and CEO of Centerline
Logistics.

"With Foss's California bunker barges joining Centerline's fleet, we will be in an even stronger
position to provide our full suite of industry-leading maritime refueling services -- from small vessels to the world's largest ships."

The deal see's Centerline Logistics’ harbor tugs transfer to Saltchuk.

In total, eight ship assist tugs in California and the Pacific Northwest currently operated under the Millennium and Starlight brands will join the Saltchuk Marine fleet in early 2021, the firm said in its own release on the deal.