Todd Fernstrum News

Netherlands’ based WEKA Boxcoolers B.V., manufacturer of copper nickel boxcoolers, was recently purchased by Dunlap & McCullough Holdings LLC, a holding company owned by Paul Fernstrum, Sean Fernstrum, and Todd Fernstrum. Paul Fernstrum, Sean Fernstrum, and Todd Fernstrum also own R.W. Fernstrum & Company. The purchase of the Netherlands’ based company was finalized April 30, 2014. In 2001, R.W. Fernstrum & Company partnered with WEKA Boxcoolers to manufacture and sell boxcoolers in North and South America, a partnership that has grown synergistically over the years. WEKA Boxcoolers B.V. and R.W. Fernstrum & Company will remain independent companies. Cees de Kwant along with rest of the WEKA team will continue to operate WEKA Boxcoolers in Krimpen a/d Ijessel.

A hallmark of the global maritime industry is the proliferation of smaller, family founded and managed businesses. R.W. Fernstrum is one such company: a ubiquitous presence for more than 65 years providing engineered cooling solutions to maritime and offshore markets. MR  went to Menominee, MI, to meet with Sean Fernstrum and his team for insights on the unique products it produces and the markets it serves. R.W. Fernstrum & Company of Menominee, Mich., is a leader in engineering and manufacturing keel cooling technologies…

The design and construction of WWII Liberty cargo ships revolutionized shipbuilding by overhauling the blueprint process and standardizing on commonality of parts, welding, pre-fabrication and assembly line construction. Give me Liberty, or give me death!” a rallying cry of the Revolutionary War, got a second act in World War II. “Built by the mile and chopped off by the yard,” Roosevelt promised the no-frills Liberties would form a “bridge of ships” across the Atlantic. And they did. An exaggeration perhaps, but in truth, the Liberty wasn’t much to write home about.