Boluda Towage Acquires Iskes Towage & Salvage
Boluda Towage SL on Thursday signed an agreement to acquire Iskes Towage & Salvage's port towage activities in Eemshaven, the Netherlands; Lubeck, Germany; and Lisbon, Portugal, as well as its offshore activities, together with the management and office staff in the head office in IJmuiden, the Netherlands.
Iskes will remain a separate entity under Boluda's headquarters in Valencia, Spain, and it will continue to manage the aforementioned harbor towage activities. It has also been agreed that Iskes will focus on strengthening and further expanding Boluda's offshore activities in Northwest Europe, with a close watch on the Baltic market, Kiel Channel and Poland.
After the official closing of the transaction scheduled to take place in early February, Iskes Towage & Salvage's local management team will be headed by managing director Ronald Vergouwen. Former owner Jim Iskes will stay on as strategic advisor.
“We are happy to join the Boluda Group because it is also a family-owned company, with short direct lines and a similar spirit," said Jim Iskes. "We could not be more pleased with this combined organization and asset portfolio. Although we find ourselves in exceptionally challenging times at this very moment, we are committed to consolidate Boluda’s future prospects, to continue strengthening Boluda’s position as European tugboat market leader, and to open up new opportunities with our innovative attitude.”
“We have recently experienced the benefits of the synergies resulting from this partnership," said Vicente Boluda Ceballos, Boluda's executive vice president. "For example, the Iskes tug Ginger has assisted our London port operation in recent weeks. Having exciting times ahead of us we certainly intend to deploy Iskes's professional crews and experienced employees on future projects.”