Upper Bay Infrastructure Partners, a New York-based private investment firm, announced Wednesday it had acquired Tidewater Transportation & Terminals of Vancouver from investment firm Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, also based in New York.
Tidewater Transportation & Terminals includes Tidewater Barge Lines, the company founded in 1932 in Vancouver.
Transaction terms were not announced. Stonepeak replaced Portland-based Endeavour Capital as the major equity investor in Tidewater in 2013.
The company, with its headquarters at 6305 N.W. Old Lower River Road, has 386 employees, 247 of them in Vancouver.
“None of the employees are affected” by Wednesday’s transaction, said Jennifer Riddle, senior marketing and communications specialist for Tidewater. “It’s business as usual.”
Tidewater has evolved into a multicommodity transportation and terminal company serving the diverse and evolving transportation needs of the Pacific Northwest.
The company’s operating area spans 465 miles on the Columbia and Snake rivers system extending from the Port of Astoria on the Oregon Coast to the inland Port of Lewiston, Idaho. In 2014, Tidewater acquired Vancouver-based West Coast Marine Cleaning, adding industrial cleaning, containment and disposal to its services in the Pacific Northwest. Additionally, Tidewater acquired Island Tug and Barge in 2017. Headquartered in Burnaby, B.C., Island Tug and Barge is the West Coast’s largest bulk transporter of refined petroleum products.
Tidewater, the largest inland marine transportation company west of the Mississippi River, has a fleet of 14 tugboats and 150 barges.
“Tidewater is the premier inland marine transportation company in the Northwest,” Marietta Moshiashvili, managing partner and CEO of Upper Bay Infrastructure Partners, said in a news release. “This acquisition provides us with a unique opportunity to add an outstanding company to our investment portfolio. We look forward to being part of Tidewater’s legacy and growth.”
Bob Curcio, CEO of Tidewater, said: “The Tidewater management team is excited about our new ownership by Upper Bay and the Investor Group. When considering the future for the company, the management team’s top priority is to ensure our customers continue to see the same high-quality, economical service that Tidewater has delivered for 87 years. Tidewater remains committed to a high level of business ethics and integrity, and our focus on safety, environmental protection and regulatory compliance.”
For many Clark County residents, Tidewater is still closely associated with philanthropist Ray Hickey, who in 1951 got a job as a deck hand on a Tidewater tugboat and went on to own the company. Hickey sold Tidewater in 1996 to an East Coast investment group. His son, Wes Hickey, served as Tidewater president from 1996 to 1999.
