August 15 - Denmark's Scan-Trans Holding A/S and the US-based Intermarine, LLC are merging their operations under the Intermarine brand name.

"We believe the company will set the standard for customer service and value in the industry" said Al Stanley, president and ceo of Intermarine, adding that as the industry consolidates, global breadth and focus on customer needs will be key.

"Consolidation is the key to success in our line of business, and Scan-Trans has been looking for the ideal partner for some time" noted Lars Juhl, ceo of Scan-Trans Worldwide.

An official statement said that by consolidating the Scan-Trans and Intermarine fleets, the company will expand its customer coverage with more than 50 multipurpose and heavylift vessels with lifting capacities of up to 800 tonnes; and that there is little overlap in the two companies' operations.

Predicted annaul turnover of the two companies is in excess of USD500 million and the largest shareholder of the merged company is private equity firm New Mountain Capital which has had major stake in the pre-merged Intermarine for some time.

"We believe that success during the next three years will be defined by providing all of our customers with the best possible cargo solutions across their global networks" commented Andre Grikitis, operating chairman of Intermarine.

"The industry will continue to consolidate and the company will have the global footprint to support all of our customers."

Claiming the best balance sheet in the business, he added: "we are well positioned to continue our growth as both service and asset opportunities arise."

With the merger of Intermarine and Scan-Trans, the new company says it will focus on four key areas: Inter-Americas liner and terminal services; global chartering and liner services; commercial management of third-party vessels; and US-flag services worldwide.

www.scan-trans.com

www.intermarineusa.com