FMT large terminal at Port of Hamilton on Lake Ontario, part of LOGISTEC’s acquisition. Photo courtesy of Fednav.

The recent acquisition of the Canadian and U.S. terminal business of Fednav Limited has added a major new dimension to the operations of Montreal-based LOGISTEC Corporation that Madeleine Paquin, president, and CEO, regards as a building block to still greater things in the North American marine industry.

It was on April 3 that LOGISTEC Stevedoring, a subsidiary of the parent company, completed the purchase for US$105 million of Federal Marine Terminals, thereby acquiring 11 terminals on the U.S. East Coast, the Great Lakes and Gulf handling bulk, breakbulk, container and project cargo. With the biggest transaction in its history of more than 70 years, LOGISTEC has expanded its total network to 90 terminals in 60 ports. These include former FMT terminals in such ports as Hamilton, Burns Harbour, Milwaukee, Eastport (Maine), Port Manatee, Tampa, and Lake Charles.

While commenting on Q1 2023 financial results from the company’s marine and environmental services, Madeleine Paquin indicated that the acquisition allowed LOGISTEC “to gain a significant foothold in key markets. We will leverage the strength of our terminal reach to support reliable supply chains for our customers and continue to drive growth.”

During the first quarter of 2023, consolidated revenue totalled $158.9 million, an increase of $17.5 million or 12.3% over the same period in 2022. Revenue from the marine services segment reached $121.5 million in 2023, up $9.8 million or 8.7% compared with $111.7 million for the comparative period of 2022. Revenue from the environmental services segment was $37.4 million, up $7.7 million or 25.8% in the first quarter of 2023.

The marine services segment continued to see strong demand in the energy sector in the U.S. Gulf Coast region, which compensated for the slower start to the year in other ports.

In terms of containers, LOGISTEC noted its terminals suffered from lower volumes, which could be explained by substantial inventories in the retail market. These are largely being depleted and the company expects volumes to resume at more normal levels in the coming quarters.

With respect to bulk and general cargoes, LOGISTEC said it was “confident with the remainder of the year given the diverse nature of the products we handle and the breadth of our network reach, we are able to adjust to market fluctuations and are optimistic about sales volumes going forward. With 11 additional terminals from our FMT acquisition, we are well prepared to deliver operational excellence to marine shippers across North America.”

“The outlook for 2023 is positive with good momentum for both our marine and environmental segments,” concluded Madeleine Paquin. “We will be focusing on a smooth integration of our FMT acquisition, while offering new options to customers and connecting them to broader markets. As mentioned, although we are seeing a slowdown in containers during the first quarter, we do expect volumes to return to more stable levels, albeit with substantially reduced storage revenue. The strength of our activities in the U.S. Gulf is expected to continue and should make up for some expected shortfalls in other general cargo and bulk terminals.”