NRC to Acquire Foss Environmental Services

National Response Corporation (NRC), a wholly owned subsidiary of SEACOR SMIT Inc., and SaltChuk Resources, Inc. (SaltChuk), a private company based in Seattle, Wash., announced that they had signed a definitive agreement for NRC to acquire Foss Environmental Services (FES), a wholly owned subsidiary of SaltChuk. FES will be renamed NRC Environmental Services and will operate as an independent wholly owned NRC subsidiary Through its acquisition of FES, NRC will acquire additional spill response resources, existing contracts, and employ more than 175 people throughout the West Coast of the U.S. Its personnel and equipment in California will more than exceed the requirements of new California regulations, which are currently being phased in. Combined with NRC's already significant West Coast based assets, including four ocean certified vessels strategically located from Neah Bay, Washington to Long Beach, California, the acquisition will result in the largest commercial spill response and environmental contracting organization operating in the States of California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii. Completion of the transaction is subject to the approval of SaltChuk's and NRC's Boards of Directors. The parties anticipate that the transaction will be completed by the end of October 2003. Todd Roloff, Chief Operating Officer of FES said: "We look forward to FES becoming an important part of NRC. The companies' activities are well matched and this transaction will enable NRC to strengthen its emergency response business and at the same time enhance FES's more traditional land based environmental contracting and industrial services business." SaltChuk's other operating companies, principally Foss Maritime, have signed long term service agreements with NRC to both support and benefit from NRC's enhanced services. Steven Candito, President of NRC, said "This acquisition is in line with our operating philosophy of optimizing the mix of dedicated NRC resources and non dedicated local resources in order to provide our customers with the best services at competitive prices. A critical element in accomplishing this goal is to ensure that non dedicated personnel and equipment are routinely used in related work, such as land based environmental contracting projects, where they are immediately available for emergency response events. The acquisition of FES clearly supports this effort.