GOLD BEACH – Freeman Marine Equipment Inc., which began in a Gold Beach garage in 1975 and has become a recognized and respected international name in marine closures, has been purchased by Canadian-based AdvanTec Global Innovations.

“The purchase of Freeman Marine greatly enhances AdvanTec’s marine group - Advanced Marine Technologies’ position as an industry leader in marine closure markets - due to their 36 years of experience in the design and manufacture of high quality marine closures,” said Paul Hill, CEO of AdvanTec.

“It’s a great fit with our existing product range and will surely complement our marine group’s current specialty of designing and manufacturing standard and custom marine closures,” Hill said.

“While there was previously a little competition between Freeman Marine and our other companies, the overlap of products was really only small and with the addition of Freeman we have a more complete overall package to offer shipbuilders all over the world,” he said. “It is a near perfect fit and reinforces our overall program.”

AdvanTec Global Innovations is a private holding company registered in British Columbia. Company assets include two manufacturing divisions as well as investments and industrial and commercial properties. 

The sale, announced Monday, was effective Nov. 30.

Freeman Marine will continue to operate out of Gold Beach as an Oregon based corporation, Hill said.

According to a Curry Coastal Pilot story published in 2001, Dugie Freeman and Bo Shindler started Freeman Marine to build all-aluminum fishing boats.

  There was just one problem. The hatches Freeman and Shindler had to put on their boats did not meet their own high standards.

Freeman had an idea for a better hatch and patented the closure latching mechanism.

It wasn’t long before others wanted those hatches. The company that started out in a garage in 1975 now makes doors, hatches, portlights, windows and hardware for the yachts of the rich and famous. If it’s on a boat, and people, cargo, air or light must pass through it, Freeman Marine custom fabricates it out of molten aluminum.

Freeman Marine sells to more than 50 countries, from the Bahamas and China to Turkey and Uruguay.

The company’s closures can be found on megayachts built for royalty, on government lifeboats and patrol craft as well as on utilitarian commercial fishing vessels and supply rigs. 

First focusing on the marketplace’s need for a better commercial deck hatch, Freeman Marine now sells more styles, more sizes and more shapes of cast aluminum deck hatches than any other manufacturer in the world.

Hill said that both Freeman and Shindler will remain employed by the company and there are no immediate plans for change.   

Hill said that with more than 300,000 square feet of manufacturing space in five locations, AdvanTec’s two manufacturing divisions employ more than 250 highly skilled personnel who conceive, design and manufacture innovative products working closely with clients around the world. 

“Freeman Marine, as our sixth manufacturer, brings to our core businesses an additional 90,000 square feet of manufacturing space, and most importantly, more than 80 highly skilled trades people with diversified and specialized production, design, administrative, and sales talents,” Hill said. 

“We’re excited about the possibilities and opportunities for growth and the additional synergies Freeman Marine presents for our group,” he said.

“Since the beginning when they worked out of a small shop out of Gold Beach, Freeman Marine has become the world leader in cast flush deck hatches. There are copies but no one can duplicate what Freeman does. In the process of becoming number one in the world, Freeman developed a great green sand foundry and we intend to look for more ways to utilize this strength as well,” Hill said.

“Freeman Marine has six full travel bridge cranes that can do some heavy lifting, and we want to make sure they’re working every day,” he said.

“Over the past 10 years or so the company has added some fairly large fabricated closures and we also intend to look to this area for company growth. And there is the strength of the rest of the product line where the company has over 40 closure styles/product groups that are fabricated,” Hill said.   

“It is rare to find so complete an operation under one roof, where we have the ability to take raw materials, add tons of value, and serve customers at a level that will keep them coming back for more,” he said.

“Freeman is the first ISO 9001 company in our marine group and we’re really excited about cross training and the possibilities this brings to improving the overall quality of everything we do,” Hill said. “There is a void around the world, especially in North America, of trades talent and we intend to fill that void in the coming years.”