By Costas Paris
LONDON--Leading salvage company Titan Salvage is in early merger
talks with rival Svitzer Salvage, a unit of Danish conglomerate
A.P. Møller-Mærsk A/S, after a fast decline in sea-salvage
operations, a person with knowledge of the matter said on
Friday.
"It will be a good marriage with Svitzer's tugs responding to
distress calls for towing, collisions and crew evacuations and
Titan's extensive infrastructure and expertise in wreck removals,"
the person said, adding that it is still unclear whether the talks
will conclude in a merger or a looser alliance.
Titan, a branch of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Crowley Maritime
Corp., is one of the world's leading shipwreck specialists and has
worked to remove more than 60 wrecks around the world. It was the
lead operator in the Costa Concordia removal on Italy's Giglio
island earlier this year, after the cruise ship hit rocks in
2012.
Titan might not be part of South Korea's lucrative Sewol wreck
removal, however. The South Korean government has indicated that it
can do the job on its own with giant cranes provided by the
country's shipbuilding yards, which were used to recover the South
Korean navy's Cheonan corvette in 2010 after it was sunk by a
suspected North Korea torpedo attack.
Svitzer Salvage, part of Mærsk's Svitzer Group, has around a 30%
share in sea-salvage operations globally, with more than 400 tugs.
Along with emergency responses, it has long-term contracts with
harbors and ship operators for towage and other services.
A merger among sea-salvage operators would follow similar moves
involving container-shipping companies, ship-brokerage firms and
others as the industry is still trying to recover from one of its
longest-ever down cycles, dating back to the 2008 economic
downturn.
Write to Costas Paris at costas.paris@wsj.com
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