TNT and RTL join the dots on Gulf Coast
31 January 2011TNT Crane of Texas and New Orleans-based RTL have announced a merger that will allow the companies to offer a full lifting service to refinery and petrochemical customers across the US Gulf Coast. With this deal, and the opening of a new TNT branch in Baton Rouge, TNT now has a presence in all six of the main centres for the petrochemical and refinery sector in the region.
Cranes Today profiled TNT Crane back in 2008, when Mike Appling had recently put together a group of investors to buy the 25-year-old company, and nearby Corpus Christi firm Kuhn. At the time, he said, "We'll continue to look to expand geographically. Our goal is to do one or two acquisitions a year, not to roll out and do eight or nine, not to get ahead of ourselves. We've still got work to do on the company we just bought.
"Being able to go from Corpus Christi to Lake Charles we've got all of the Texas Gulf Coast and part of Louisiana covered. Going out to New Orleans and Baton Rouge, in Louisiana, would give us the rest of the Gulf Coast industrial base." Since those first two deals, TNT has gone on to buy the assets of Dallas-Fort Worth's Americrane, in January 2009.
The Americrane deal brought TNT Crane's fleet up to 94 units. Under the new deal with RTL, the combined company will own 125 cranes.
The key benefit for Appling is the geographical reach the new deal, and the new Baton Rouge depot, gives the company. He told Cranes Today, " The deal jumpstarts our service in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. There are six major conglomerations of petrochemical and refinery facilities: Corpus Christi, Houston, Port Arthur, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. We now serve all of them.
"There are many plants between Baton Rouge and New Orleans on the river. We're just south of Baton Rouge, and they are just north of New Orleans, so it is only 30–40min drive if we want to move equipment between sites."
Pet Teeson, CEO of RTL, said, "This merger positions our group as one of the leading crane rental service companies in South Louisiana. It will give RTL employees enhanced opportunities and furnish TNT with a base to further geographical expansion. By combining these seasoned businesses we will now be in position to offer a broader spectrum of lifting and rigging services to clientele in the region.”
The deal is TNT's first in almost two years. Appling said, "We've been fairly busy: pricing is terrible, but we're very active. We focused on our balance sheet in 2009 and 2010. Now is a good time to continue our acquisition programme: our balance sheet is in excellent shape, we've weathered the crisis, and have very low leverage."
TNT will be expanding its fleet further this year, with a 625USt Liebherr LTM1500, due in April.
