PRESS RELEASE – Boskalis has acquired maritime emergency response specialist Ardent Americas to expand its presence in the US salvage market.

Ardent Americas acts under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA90) for the provision of marine emergency response services in the United States.

Under the OPA90 program, there is a statutory requirement from the United States Coast Guard that shipowners trading in US waters must have an agreement in place with approved emergency response companies for the provision of salvage and marine firefighting services. Ardent Americas’ OPA90 program covers around 500 shipowners that together operate roughly 4,000 vessels.

Ardent Americas was established in 2015 following the merger of Svitzer Salvage and Titan Salvage. It operates from Houston and Fort Lauderdale in the US and was a subsidiary of Ardent Global Marine Services, headquartered in IJmuiden, the Netherlands.

Through this acquisition, Boskalis further strengthens its existing position in the US maritime salvage market. Boskalis currently provides OPA90 services in the US with Donjon-Smit through its subsidiary SMIT Salvage and its joint venture partner Donjon Marine.