Shell, Whitmore announce JV in rail sector

Whitmore and Shell Lubricants will form a joint venture to provide products and services to North American rail customers.

The joint venture will be called Shell & Whitmore Reliability Solutions and will market, distribute, and sell lubricants, greases, coolants, reliability products, and related industrial services to the North America rail as well as U.S. mining sectors.

The companies said the joint venture will combine the strengths of Whitmore and Shell to offer multi-sector expertise; advanced equipment technologies and services; and an integrated product portfolio that meets the unique needs of companies engaged in North America Class I, II, and III rail (excluding municipal transit systems) and U.S. mining (excluding quarries).

“Today’s announcement represents a first step toward offering a comprehensive portfolio of products and solutions to rail and mining customers,” said Joseph B. Armes, CSW Industrials chairman, president and CEO. “When Shell first approached us about this opportunity to form a partnership, our team quickly realized the value in an expanded commercial relationship with a world-class organization to drive accretive growth for shareholders, promote proprietary products and technologies to customers, and increase capacity utilization at Whitmore’s existing manufacturing facility.”

The JV’s production assets will be co-located at Whitmore’s Rockwall, Texas facility and operated by Whitmore, where the JV will benefit from Whitmore’s scale and expertise.

An additional benefit of the companies’ collaboration is an expanded commercial relationship between Whitmore and Shell, which is expected to significantly broaden the reach of Whitmore’s reliability products through Shell’s distribution channels throughout the Americas (excluding the JV’s business sectors).