Hendry Marine Adds New Drydock

The Hendry family entered the maritime business in 1926 when Captain F.M. Hendry started a construction aggregate business and then later a dredging business. Captain Hendry passed the business on to his son, Aaron W. Hendry, and under Aaron’s leadership, the company progressed from construction aggregate and dredging to ship repair and maintenance. In 1988, Aaron acquired Gulf Tampa Drydock and changed the name to Gulf Marine Repair. In 2012, Aaron had the foresight to start Universal Environmental Solutions, LLC, a company offering gas-freeing and cargo conversion services, so customers could gas-free or convert cargo at the same location as their repair work. UES continues to provide not only those services, but also slop removal, lead and asbestos abatement, and brokered waste services.

In 2017, the HMI family of companies grew again by acquiring Anchor Sandblasting and Coatings, LLC, to provide in-house blasting and coating. Now, HMI is the only one-stop shop for ship repair and maintenance on the Gulf Coast. “We are focused on growing our current business lines while keeping an eye toward future opportunities for expansion and diversification. Our goal is to continue to foster a relationship-based commercial strategy, allowing us to build upon and maximize the substantial, long-term industry relationships and the solid reputation of our team from the craftsmen to the executives.”

While the current market conditions in commercial shipping are tight, HMI focuses its core competencies around commercial and government ship repair, and subsequetnly HMI reports that is has grown its workforce by 50 percent in 2017. It is in fact HMI’s diversity that it counts as a primary strength in markets strong and soft, as its ability to serve customers in one location is what HMI considers to be a primary competitive advantage.

HMI and Gulf Marine Repair purchased a new drydock which was set to arrive at the Tampa shipyard in late December 2017. “The entire team at HMI and Gulf Marine worked hard on this transaction,” said Rick Watts, President of Gulf Marine. “The future for HMI and Gulf Marine is bright, and this drydock will allow us to service the next generation of tugs, government vessels, and many other types of vessels. We’re excited about providing our customers with additional capacity, and this new drydock is the perfect complement to our existing assets.”

“While the industry as a whole is suffering, we are confident in our ability to continue to meet and exceed our customer’s expectations, so much so that we have acquired a fourth drydock that we are going to give to our employees as a Christmas present,” said Jim Long, CEO and President of Hendry Marine Industries, Inc. “This dock will expand our capabilities and value, allowing us to service the new deep-draft tugs and larger U.S. Coast Guard cutters. The company will continue to look for ways to expand our business through improvements and more diverse service offerings.” 

(As published in the January 2018 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News)