Jacksonville firms merge in rail, maritime portfolio expansion

Short line regional freight railroad holding company Patriot Rail Co. has combined with Diversified Port Holdings to expand their respective business offerings in rail and maritime port services.

   Short line and regional freight railroad holding company Patriot Rail Co. (PRC) has merged with Diversified Port Holdings (DPH) to expand their mutual business portfolios, the firms said in a joint statement.
   “In our day-to-day service delivery we noted customers increasingly seeking bundled port and rail solutions. In the past DPH and Patriot have partnered in providing these solutions to our customers. The combining of the businesses will enable us to further enhance service delivery for our customers and offer more value-add transportation solutions,” said Patriot CEO John Fenton, who was recently appointed as CEO of the unified company.
   “The combination of DPH with the Patriot portfolio provides an exceptional opportunity for us to provide a coordinated and seamless suite of customized transportation and logistics solutions to rail and port customers. We are thrilled to add DPH to the Patriot team, and we look forward to the new and improved services options we will present to the marketplace,” Fenton said.
   PRC owns and operates 12 short line railroads and five rail related service companies, offering railcar repair, tank car cleaning, product recovery, load adjusts/transfers, transloading, track construction, track maintenance, switching, track cleaning, logistics, flood response, and other services.
   DPH and its subsidiaries, Seaonus and Portus, operate eight breakbulk, bulk, and heavy lift terminals and two container, roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) and lift-on/lift-off (lo-lo) terminals located along the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic Coast.
   Seaonus and Portus provide stevedoring and terminal services including on and off-port storage facilities as well as logistics services, intermodal connectivity, and use of on and off-port storage facilities.
   Patriot Rail Company and DPH are both headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla.