Host Davant, a subsidiary of T. Parker Host, has reached an agreement to acquire Marquard & Bahls' United Bulk Terminals Davant facility, according to a company statement Friday.
The Norfolk, Virginia-based shipping agency said in the statement that the "transition is underway, and the closing is expected within 30 days."
The Davant facility, which handles coal and petcoke operations, is in Davant, Louisiana, on the lower Mississippi River.
"The transaction is in line with Marquard & Bahls' revised strategy of concentrating on its core activities in tank storage logistics, trading and aviation fueling, as well as investing in adjacent businesses in the energy and chemical sector," the statement said.
T. Parker Host added that "the location is complementary to Host's service network and allows Host to expand its offerings in the bulk cargo market."
In 2018, the Davant terminal exported 252,831 mt of thermal coal, up threefold from 86,088 mt in 2017, according to a previous report from T. Parker Host.
In an email to S&P Global Platts, a spokesman for T. Parker Host declined to provide financial details on the deal but said, "we look forward to sharing more information post-closing."
Through the first seven months of 2019, roughly 6.91 million mt of coal was exported through New Orleans, down from 9.99 million mt in the same period a year ago, according to US Census Bureau data.
Despite the year-on-year decrease, the cumulative exports are still the second-highest total in the last six years.
Total calcined and non-calcined petcoke exports through New Orleans are at 5.05 million mt through July, down from 6.13 million mt a year earlier, according to Census Bureau data. It was the lowest petcoke export total in the first seven months of a year since 4.35 million mt in 2015.
