Harren & Partner to buy SAL Heavy Lift

Bremen-based shipping company Harren & Partner has reached an agreement with “K” Line to buy compatriot company SAL Heavy Lift.

SAL Heavy Lift specializes in sea transport of heavy lift and project cargo. Its offshore subsidiary, SAL Offshore, develops and supplies installation solutions for the oil & gas and renewables sectors. The company has been a part of the “K” Line Group since 2011.

Harren & Partner said on Wednesday that the acquisition of SAL from “K” Line would go through on July 27, 2017.

Martin Harren, managing director of Harren & Partner, said: “We believe that this acquisition will ensure that both SAL and Harren & Partner are very well-positioned for the future. In becoming the new dominant player in the super heavy lift market, we believe this will add strength to SAL and bring with it some much-needed pricing discipline.”

After the acquisition, Harren & Partner will own two heavy lift companies, SAL and Combi Lift, with the newly acquired SAL continuing to operate as a separate brand with its headquarters in Hamburg.

Peter Harren, founder and managing director of Harren & Partner, said: “SAL will continue to provide its well-known services (and) there won’t be any changes for SAL’s clients. Also, the fleet of 15 heavy lift vessels will remain with SAL.”

Together, Harren & Partner and SAL have a fleet of 26 heavy lift vessels. The vessels range from multipurpose vessels with a 300-tonne crane capacity and dock ships to offshore construction vessels with a combined crane capacity of up to 2,000 tonnes.

The company said that SAL would also manage the CL 900/Type 116 vessels as well as Combi Dock I and II. Also, SAL will have 12 heavy lift vessels in its fleet with a capacity of over 900 tonnes.

According to Harren & Partner, after the acquisition is completed, Combi Lift would update its market approach in line with the buy of SAL.

“We at Combi Lift are also very glad that the acquisition was made possible. Combi Lift will increasingly focus on demanding logistics challenges beyond the day-to-day business – just like the Gazprom Amur GPP Project in Russia – as well as special offshore, decommissioning and salvage projects,” explained Heiko Felderhoff, CEO of Combi Lift.