Evansville Marine Service

What Evansville Marine Service does

Evansville Marine Service, Inc. (EMS) is a privately held harbor services company founded in 1994 and headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, providing shifting, fleeting, cleaning, loading, unloading, transferring, crane, dry dock, repair, towing, terminal operations, marine construction, and consulting services to barge towing companies, terminals, and industrial marine facilities. Under Robert R. Aldrich's ownership since 2008, the company has scaled from under 100 employees to approximately 170 across nine harbor locations spanning the Ohio River corridor (Louisville to West Franklin) with additional reach onto the Green, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers. The operating fleet includes 20+ switching and harbor boats, four line haul towboats (most recently the 2,600 hp Angela M Aldrich added in 2023), 12 floating material-handling and lift cranes with conveyor systems, three dry docks, and three permitted barge-washing facilities.

The business operates as a direct B2B service provider with no public pricing — engagements are quote-based and anchored in long-running enterprise relationships with agricultural commodity handlers (ADM, Cargill, Owensboro Grain), energy and utility customers (Vectren/CenterPoint Energy, ALCOA, Century Aluminum, Big Rivers Electric), aggregates and construction materials operators (Mulzer, Yager Materials), petroleum terminals (Ashland Oil), and government (U.S. Coast Guard). Revenue is generated entirely through service fees across the harbor services portfolio, with economies of scale and regionally distributed equipment cited as the principal cost and service-speed advantage. The company has no external institutional investors, no parent company, and no public financial disclosures, and pursues a long-term employee pipeline via its sponsorship of the Deckhand Training Program at the Earle C. Clements Job Corps Academy.

Name

Evansville Marine Service

Legal name

Evansville Marine Service, Inc.

Website

https://ems-harbors.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Evansville Marine Service provides shifting, fleeting, cleaning, crane, dry dock, repair, and towing harbor services to barge towing companies, terminals, and industrial marine facilities across nine Ohio River locations, serving enterprise customers in agriculture, energy, aggregates, and petroleum.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Marine Harbor Services

NAICS

Support Activities for Water Transportation (4883), Port and Harbor Operations (488310), Marine Cargo Handling (48832)

SIC

Water Transportation (4400), Ship & Boat Building & Repairing (3730)

akta.pro primary industry

Harbor Towage (Ship Assist & Berthing/Unberthing) (TLAHAHAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Crew Transfer & Workboat Services (Tug-Adjacent Operations) (TLAHAHAM), Marine Terminals & Cargo Handling Infrastructure (RoRo, Bulk, Container) (IMAFAJAF)

Keywords

• Harbor services
• Barge fleeting
• Marine towing
• Dry dock repair
• Floating crane services

Headquarters

HQ city

Evansville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Harbor Services: Service-based revenue from shifting, fleeting, cleaning, loading, unloading, transferring, crane services and repairs provided to barge towing companies, terminals, and marine facilities

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Evansville Marine Service provides harbor services to barge towing companies, terminals, and other marine facilities across nine strategically located harbors on the Ohio, Green, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers. The company's portfolio includes vessel shifting and fleeting, barge cleaning and preparation, loading and unloading, material transfer via floating cranes, towing, marine construction, terminal operations, dry dock and repair, and consulting for inland waterway marine projects.

Product overview

Evansville Marine Service is a harbor services company providing a comprehensive suite of marine operations along the Ohio River and its tributaries. The company operates as a single unified service offering that combines harbor services (shifting, fleeting, cleaning, loading, unloading, transferring, crane services, and repairs) with nine strategically located harbor facilities across the region. Their fleet includes over 20 towboats and workboats, supported by three dry docks, three barge-cleaning facilities, and twelve floating cranes. The service portfolio encompasses: Fleeting Services, Barge Preparing Services, Dry Dock and Repair Services, Crane Services, Terminal Operations, Marine Construction, Consulting, Towing, Deckhand Training, and Shifting Services. The company serves major barge towing companies, terminals, and marine facilities across eight harbor locations from Louisville to West Franklin along the Ohio River system.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Harbor Services Comprehensive harbor service offering that bundles shifting, fleeting, cleaning, loading, unloading, transferring, crane services, and repairs for barge towing companies, terminals, and other marine facilities across nine Ohio River Valley harbors.
• Fleeting Services Provides insured and permitted fleeting areas to accommodate any number and any size of vessels for any duration of stay, delivered through nine strategically located harbor facilities.
• Shifting Services Twenty-plus strategically located switching boats that fully meet vessel switching and shifting needs at each service area on the Ohio, Green, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers.
• Barge Preparing Services Three permitted barge-washing facilities that can sweep, reset, close, stack, or otherwise prepare barges for transport, including hazardous-material barge preparation for permitted cargoes.
• Dry Dock and Repair Services Three dry docks and multiple repair stations that allow renewal and refurbishment of barges or small to mid-sized pushboats for inland waterway operators.
• Crane Services Twelve floating material-handling and lift cranes with conveyor systems of various sizes that can transfer, load, and unload cargo for terminals and marine facilities along the inland waterway.
• Terminal Operations Resources and operational experience to design, staff, and operate dedicated marine terminal facilities on a 24-hour basis for grain, energy, aggregate, and other industrial customers.
• Marine Construction Fleet of floating cranes serves as a working platform for the maintenance and construction of various waterway projects including dock and harbor infrastructure.
• Towing Services Four line haul vessels available for hire for towing needs on the Green, Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers.
• Consulting Services Expert consulting services for nearly every barge line and harbor service on the inland waterway and every terminal operation on the Ohio River, supporting intermodal and marine project customers.

Named customers11 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Earle C. Clements Job Corps AcademyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEMS sponsors the Deckhand Training Program at the Earle C. Clements Job Corps Academy located in Morganfield, KY. The program successfully trains individuals to enter the inland river towing industry as Deckhands, addressing workforce development needs for the marine industry.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Inland Marine Service: Mid-South based harbor services operator providing fleeting, shifting, cleaning, and towing on the Mississippi and Ohio River systems. Directly comparable to EMS in service mix, regional inland-waterway focus, and barge-shipping customer base.
• Midwest Towboats: Operates harbor towboats and fleeting services on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Waterways. Highly comparable business model to EMS's shifting/towing line, with a similar mix of barge-line and terminal customers.
• ARTCO Fleeting: Provides fleeting and switching services to barge operators on inland waterways including the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Closest functional peer to EMS's fleeting product line and serves the same barge-towing customer base.
• Magnolia Marine Transport: Operates one of the largest inland towboat fleets serving the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland, and Arkansas Rivers. Comparable fleet scale and inland-river customer overlap with EMS, with a slightly heavier line-haul focus.

Broad incumbents

• Marquette Transportation Company: Large diversified inland marine operator with both line-haul and harbor services across the Mississippi, Ohio, and Gulf Intracoastal Waterway systems. Overlaps with EMS on harbor/shifting work but at materially greater scale.
• Kirby Corporation: Largest U.S. inland barge operator, with significant harbor and fleeting service exposure alongside its dominant line-haul business. A scaled incumbent whose harbor services compete and overlap with EMS in several inland corridors.
• Consolidated Grain and Barge Co. (CGB): Operates a network of inland river terminals and barge logistics services across the Mississippi and Ohio River systems. Comparable terminal-operations and grain-customer overlap with EMS's Evansville/Henderson/Owensboro business.
• American Commercial Barge Line (ACBL): Major inland barge line with line-haul and harbor service exposure across the Ohio and Mississippi River systems. Comparable customer base of barge shippers and overlapping geographic footprint.

Regional players

• Alter Trading Corporation: Operates scrap-metal recycling yards served by inland barge logistics on the Mississippi River system. Comparable harbor-service usage profile and commodity barge customer orientation, though primarily upstream of EMS's Ohio River geography.

Emerging players

• Riverway Company: Regional harbor services and fleeting operator on the Upper Mississippi River. Similar service mix (fleeting, shifting, towing) but smaller scale and different geography than EMS, making it a useful emerging/regional comparable.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Evansville Marine Service