Hilco Redevelopment Partners, a unit of Hilco Global, and MCM Marine Services, an affiliate of MCM Management Corp. (MCM), have completed a transaction to purchase the assets of one of the largest and busiest ship recycling and scrap processing companies in the world (formerly known as ESCO Marine).
The new joint venture company will be opened under the name SteelCoast with a new management and operations team to begin running the business immediately. SteelCoast’s headquarters are in Brownsville, Texas.
The joint venture deal closed on May 1, 2017 following US Bankruptcy Court proceedings presided over by Judge David R. Jones. Hilco and MCM acquired the assets from the previous ship recycling and scrapping operation which were sold following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding filed in late 2015. Financial details and purchase price were not disclosed.
Hilco Redevelopment Partners EVP and SteelCoast Board Member, Roberto Perez said, “Putting a deal together to acquire and relaunch this unique ship recycling and scrap processing business was complex, especially given the nature of the assets and our goal of maintaining key U.S. Government client relationships. Following a lengthy diligence process, we are confident that SteelCoast has a very substantial growth path.”
The new company, SteelCoast, will be one of the largest and most technologically advanced reclamation, remediation and recycling firms located in North America. The Brownsville, Texas facility, which has already undergone over one million dollars in renovations and improvements, will provide a complete end to end solution including recycling of huge oceangoing vessels (both military and non-military) from around the world.
SteelCoast will also dismantle decommissioned, idled or underutilized oil rigs, train locomotives, railcars, as well as other industrial and commercial sources of recyclable metals. Additionally, SteelCoast will process automobiles and other light metal products in its 4500 HP shredder. These types of reclamation and recycling projects allow for the scrap processing of both ferrous and nonferrous metals during the dismantling process. SteelCoast will then work to process and resell the scrap to be used in various other manufacturing industries.
Hilco and MCM also announced that it has installed Kris Wood as chief executive officer at SteelCoast and is in the process of adding an experienced operations and management team.
Working with Wood over the last many months, SteelCoast has developed a detailed business plan which includes an investment in sales support to build upon its very impressive client base, which includes contracts with the U.S. Navy and marketing and reselling of the recycled materials. SteelCoast also has immediate plans to invest millions of dollars more into the infrastructure, berths, technology and equipment to ensure the facility is a leading state of the art, world class ship recycling and scrap processing facility.
Chief executive officer Kris Wood has considerable experience within the ship recycling and scrap processing industry. As a lifelong South Texas resident, he worked at the former company for over 12 years, having touched almost every operational and administrative aspect of the business as he added new management responsibilities throughout his career.
Wood has led several key team projects over the years including oversight of key U.S. Navy and MARAD initiatives.
SteelCoast will immediately commence the work of dismantling the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Saratoga and former MARAD vessels Shenandoah & Yellowstone.
Published in the June 2017 Edition of American Recycler News