Local water logistics company expands in Chicago area

An Indianapolis-based company that does most of its business on the Ohio River is targeting the Great Lakes with a new acquisition.

TPG Marine Enterprises LLC announced Thursday that it has acquired Chicago Dry Dock, a shipyard near Lake Michigan founded in 1979.

Financial terms of the deal, which closed Tuesday, were not disclosed. The acquisition was made through the company's TPG Mt. Vernon Marine LLC business unit.

TPG Marine has a handful of executives at its Indianapolis headquarters. Most of its 150 employees work in harbor service operations at various points on the Ohio River, including Jeffersonville and Mt. Vernon. The company provides logistics, operations, repair and consulting services related to cargo movement on the inland waterways system.

The acquired business, now called TPG Chicago Dry Dock, will retain its current management and staff of about 20 employees.

Chicago Dry Dock operates on seven acres along the Calumet River less than three river miles from Lake Michigan.

Company officials said the facility is the only one of its kind to offer "unencumbered access" to both the Great Lakes via Lake Michigan and the inland river system via the Calumet, Des Plaines and Illinois Rivers.

“The Chicago Dry Dock shipyard is strategically and uniquely located with excellent access to the inland waterways system and the Great Lakes," TPG Marine CEO Daniel B. Altman said in a written statement. "TPG has the interest and the resources to bring additional revenue and jobs to the region by expanding the services and client base of the shipyard in the commercial shipping and recreational boating arenas.”

The facility can accommodate repairs to vessels 262 feet long, 54 feet wide and up to 1,500 tons, including tug boats, tow boats, commercial tour and passenger vessels, pleasure boats and barges of all types, the company said.

The acquisition will allow TPG Marine to target the Chicago and northwest Indiana markets.