Page 37: of Marine News Magazine (June 2011)

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have been around longer than I have. I think we’ve done a good job on building on our strong culture.”

A strong company culture is one of the strengths he said has lead to Crowley Maritime’s success despite the chal- lenges facing tug and barge operators. Unfortunately, those challenges make doing business in the U.S. more difficult, “which to me is suprising, given our economic state, you’d think we would be trying to be more compet- itive. But that has not occurred.”

Too much capacity and not enough demand for vessels is one big challenge. “Since the downturn of economy there is more tonnage available than the market can bare.

Puerto Rico, as an example, has tremendous fall-off in cargo volumes and yet the capacity remains constant. That has driven pricing down. The same could be said on the oil transportation side of the business. Gasoline demand in the U.S. has continued to drop. That has certainly put an oversupply on Jones Act tanker trade. Capacity doesn’t seem to leave the Jones Act trade nearly as quickly as the international trades.” “The other challenge is the backwards direction we’ve taken on our energy policy in terms of drilling.” Crowley

In late 2010, two of Crowley's high-deck strength barges, 455-3 and Marty J, towed by tugs Warrior and Commander, transport- ed processing and utility modules, and other smaller structural components more than 8,000 miles from Gulf Island Fabricators in Houma, La., to Point Oliktok in Kuparuk, Alaska. The modules and components, each weighing nearly 4,000 tons, will support

Eni’s development of the Nikaitchuq oil field.

Images courtesy Crowley Maritime Corporation