It is my honor and privilege to share our history with you.  The Florida Marine Group’s story began in 1994 when I joined Florida Marine Transporters, Inc.  By 1998, I had acquired ownership of the company and was enjoying the great pleasure of running Florida Marine with the support of my family and a small group of committed employees.  From day one, our motto has been “A Relentless Pursuit of Excellence.”  Integral to that pursuit, Florida Marine’s boat and barge fleet was built from the start to be unrivaled in quality. Today, Florida Marine operates the newest boat and barge fleet in the industry—an investment that consistently helps us to achieve the best safety and performance record among our competitors.

I started my career in marine transportation as a deckhand, and through the years worked every vessel crew position. I also held the positions of Port Captain, Personnel Manager, Operating Manager, and COO before becoming the owner of Florida Marine. During Florida Marine’s infancy, I worked tirelessly alongside my core group of loyal employees to build a reputation as a safe and efficient operator. Since its inception, Florida Marine has been fully dedicated to the success of our customers. To achieve this, we only employ vessels with state-of-the-art safety features along with the most efficient discharge equipment. Ensuring safety and reliability is our top priority. Florida Marine thrives when our customers prosper. We are loyal to our customers and derive a great deal of pride from our customers’ loyalty to Florida Marine. Every boat, every barge, and every employee is committed to our relentless pursuit of customer satisfaction.

The care of our customers’ cargoes is entrusted to Florida Marine’s experienced staff and knowledgeable crew. Our senior management team has demonstrated a clear vision for knowing what it takes to succeed in this business.  This group of committed professionals proudly possesses the lowest incident record in the industry. Having highly trained and committed employees in all positions is a key reason why Florida Marine is a success today.

Since 1998, the Florida Marine Group of diversified affiliated companies has been instrumental in the new construction of marine vessels in all five coastal states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, as well as in Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania—representing a cumulative fair market value injected into the economy of approximately $1.5 billion.  While we continue to build new boats and barges, here are some examples of our major shipbuilding projects since 1998:

  • 275 tank barges capable of transporting all liquid Sub-Chapter D / Dangerous and Flammable cargoes ranging from asphalt to gasoline; and over 270  Sub-Chapter O listed chemical categories from amyl alcohol to xylenes;
  • 59 canal class towboats ranging from 1,700 H.P. to 2,800 H.P.;
  • 16 river class towboats ranging from 3,300 H.P. to 6,000 H.P.;
  • 13 liquid petroleum gas (LPG) high pressure barges for all P/P Mix products, including butadiene and propane;
  • 50 heavy duty open hopper barges utilized in the dry cargo trade;
  • 22 heavy duty deck barges for the transportation of aggregate—from crushed stone to boulders—and heavy lift cargoes;
  • 3 multiple purpose, dynamic spud barges;
  • 3 self-contained floating dry docks for the FMT Shipyard with lifting capability of 1,000 tons to 3,000 tons;
  • 10 service barges for oil pollution clean-up services;
  • 1 bow steering unit using state-of-the-art technology;
  • Rebuilding, re-powering and refurbishing 17 older Florida Marine towboats to bring them into the modern era of Sub-Chapter M certification.

In 2008, the Florida Marine Group took advantage of a strategic opportunity to expand its portfolio into a related business by opening FMT Shipyard & Repair, LLC just outside New Orleans in Harvey, Louisiana.  FMT Shipyard specializes in re-powers, full refurbish, carpentry work, seal conversions, quick wheel changes, full underwater services, alignments, tank cleaning, and steel work.  FMT Shipyard ensures the quality of all its repairs and improvements.  The Shipyard operates as a full service 24-hour repair yard comprised of the newest equipment in the industry, including three new floating dry docks.

In 2009, the Florida Marine Group established FMT Aggregate, LLC, beginning the FMT Dry Cargo and FMT Aggregate divisions.  We assembled a first-class management team to lead the new venture and quickly developed into the fastest growing transporter of dry cargo in the industry.  We operate on the Mississippi River and its tributaries and have the ability to move freight along all sectors with unprecedented service and productivity. Throughout the inland waterway system, we transport barges with aggregate, coal, steel and bulk products.  FMT Aggregate currently operates 10 distribution yards and is poised to become the leading high-volume provider of construction aggregates for such end users as commercial construction, contractors, public infrastructure, storm and hurricane protection, energy facilities, pad sites, and office buildings.

The Florida Marine Group’s capabilities continued to expand in the spring of 2015 with FMT Aggregate’s establishment of its Marine Bulk Handling division, a loading and unloading equipment business. Marine Bulk Handling, known primarily for its barge unloading services, also provides land based handling operations.  Our equipment and personnel have experience in handling products such as aggregate limestone, riprap, sand, clay, iron ore, bauxite, dredge spoils, frac sand, super sack cargoes, synthetic aggregate, and oyster bed materials. Marine Bulk Handling has adapted to the changing markets and economic times by “partnering” with customers to meet special needs or service requirements.

Florida Marine started with a handful of boats and barges and systematically expanded so that today we provide shipyard services and operate the industry’s newest diversified fleet of more than six dozen boats and several hundred tank, deck, hopper and pressure barges to transport liquid, chemical, dry and LPG cargoes—with nine hundred employees dedicated to Florida Marine’s mission to transport our customers’ resources with the highest levels of safety, efficiency, and environmental stewardship.

My family and I are deeply committed to the continued success of your business and are dedicated to the active tradition of “hands on” ownership.  I invite you to be my guest and inspect our facilities as well as our equipment.   Thank you for taking the time to review this information.

Dennis A. Pasentine