Bankrupt Marine Builders Equipment Sold At Auction

Equipment belonging to Marine Builders, a 49-year-old marine construction company based in Utica, Ind., was auctioned May 28 by order of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2019. The filing showed the company had as many as 199 creditors and between $1 million and $10 million in liabilities at the time. 

Marine Builders leased a 16-acre facility in Utica, near Jeffersonville, Ind. The land was not included in the auction, only the equipment, according to Kevin Gamm of Myron Bowling Auctioneers Inc.

Equipment up for auction included three large barge hulls, up to 125 tons, two boom cranes, a 500-ton hydraulic press brake, a plasma cutting table, a hydraulic automatic shear, a 3,000-pound hydraulic test unit and an assortment of electrical and trades equipment, according to the auction brochure.

Gamm said the pieces were sold individually and not to a single buyer.

Marine Builders designed, built and delivered more than 100 vessels in its history, one of the most recent being the towboat Capt. C.R. Neale III.

In its bankruptcy filing the company cited the declining coal industry and a downturn in boat and barge orders.