Ellicott Gets New Orders, Sells Business

Ellicott International received orders for four units of its new patented Mud Cat MC-2000 model auger dredge. Three will be going to Mexico where a local contractor will be desilting rivers in the State of Veracruz. The State of Veracruz specified the use of the MC-2000 for its high output and low turbidity with delivery slated for the first quarter of 2002. A U.S. contractor bought a fourth unit for cleaning fly ash ponds for a major utility, American Electric Power. The U.S. Patent Office has just awarded a patent to the MC-2000 for its innovative low turbidity excavation and pumping systems. In recent applications both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Wisconsin State Department of Natural Resources have lauded highly successful PCB removal operations where the MC-2000 dredge was employed as the primary sediment removal device. Ellicott has also sold two Series 370 hp cutterhead dredges. One will go to Asia as a repeat order for a multinational-owned power plant to maintain cooling intake channels. The first Ellicott unit, delivered 6 years ago, performed as expected and led to the client's decision to buy another. A U.S. leasing company has bought a new 370 to add to its mobile equipment lease fleet. Ellicott has sold two SP-815 Mud Cat auger dredges as well. One will go to a U.S. synthetic gypsum plant and a second to a major U.S. environmental remediation contractor. Both will be delivered by April. Additionally, Ellicott has received a firm order for a 710 hp 12-in. "DRAGON" cutterhead dredge from a Latin American client for delivery by July. Ellicott has received million dollar plus orders from Panama Canal Authority and from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Panama Canal orders are for lock parts as well as dredge parts. The Corps order is for refurbishing parts for the hopper dredge "McFarland", which Ellicott designed. Baltimore Dredges Buys Ellicott Ellicott has also announced that certain of its operating assets, and all of its designs and intellectual property rights, have been sold to a new company, Baltimore Dredges, LLC, which bought the assets from Ellicott's bank, First International Bank (a UPS Capital Company), with the approval of the U.S. Eximbank, a U.S. government agency. Baltimore Dredges will complete all the orders mentioned above, and other previously announced contracts such as with the Government of Vietnam for two 14-in. Series 1170 "DRAGON" dredges. In announcing the asset purchase, the Chairman of Baltimore Dredges, Gamal Elsaeed, said, "Ellicott had a wonderful history of building reliable, technically innovative dredge products for over a century, going back to the construction of the Panama Canal. A contract default by a Thai customer forced it to restructure. We are pleased to have the opportunity to lead the restructuring and ensure that all past, present, and future customers are well-served whether for parts, field service, or new dredge orders. Every Ellicott dredge owner will be able to get parts timely. "Baltimore Dredges, LLC will be pursuing new customers who can benefit from Ellicott's rugged standard dredge product line and from Mud Cat's line of one-truck transportable dredges. We will also pursue sand and gravel mining companies who are excited by the SANDMINER dredge product", Elsaeed added.