USES Merger Likely to Create New, Local Jobs

United States Environmental Services (USES), an environmental services company that has its roots in New Orleans, has just merged with a well-known Midwestern service provider. The new, combined company is set to employ approximately 100 workers in the New Orleans area, and even more jobs could become available in the future.

USES, which specializes in cleaning for maritime, refining, and other industrial clients, announced the merger with K2 Industrial Services on June 3rd. K2 is a firm based in Hammond, Indiana, that provides insulation, industrial coatings, and scaffolding services. This recent merger comes on the heels of The Halifax Group discreetly acquiring USES in April. In fact, The Halifax Group also owns a majority stake in K2 Industrial.

The new, combined company will retain the USES name and will now employ nearly 2,000 workers across the country and generate approximately $500 million in annual revenue. Said USES CEO, Greg Johnson, “The new USES has a larger, national footprint and an impressive range of services that neither company could offer on its own.”

United States Environmental Services was founded in 1996 in New Orleans as an industrial cleaning company, and quickly grew to 17 locations in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Alabama. Their 100 employees in the New Orleans area include 50 in the company’s maritime group, which handles cleaning for offshore oil and gas supply vessels, among other types of vessels.

Mary Lauren Boykin, a spokesperson for USES, stated that the new company will maintain, and likely grow, its current local workforce. She said that the two companies’ regions had little overlap, meaning that the new, larger company will add services in the Gulf Coast very soon. She also said that the company will need to add jobs going forward, but the specifics are not clear at this stage.

The combined company has 41 locations around the country, including five in Louisiana. They offer services in 17 different categories, which include hazardous material emergency response, industrial coatings, oil spill cleanup, insulation, cleaning and maintenance, and fireproofing/scaffolding.