Page 46: of Marine News Magazine (August 2019)

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FEATURE: INLAND MARINE OPERATORS

MN100 “We have a strategy in place to balance the commercial requirements and age of our open hopper ? eet. We need to meet the requirements of our power generation customers and we continue to look for opportunities to add or replace open hopper barges.” – Peter Stephaich, Chairman and CEO,

Campbell Transportation Company (CTC)

CTC MV Jeffrey A Raike (3,000 HP) with an integrated tow near Cincinnati.

meet commitments for capacity and timeliness. – the transport of singular, oversized units – equipment

Another advantage: expansion adds tugs. Kirby now has and machinery that cannot be ? tted into containers, for plenty of in-house power. It does not need to charter tugs, example, or moved in a standard RORO operation.

an important strength when the market is strong and char- Mike Little is VP Business Development for Canal ter costs go up. Barge. Little said the project cargo market expanded in the

Finally, according to Giveans, Kirby’s scale gives at least past year because of new petrochemical investments, par- some pricing power. Kirby’s well-timed acquisitions have ticularly, for CBC, the construction of Shell’s new cracker paid off. Growth can’t just depend on buying other compa- plant, in Monaca, PA, on the Ohio River, about 20 miles nies. But it can surely build as markets recover and the right north of Pittsburgh. Little said that the Canal Barge team capital equipment investments are in place, ready to go. was involved with the cracker project from the start. “We were asked to consult with their project management team

Canal Barge Company during the front-end engineering and design (FEED),”

Canal Barge Company, Inc. (CBC) is a family-owned, in- Little said, starting in 2013. CBC has been critical for dependent marine transportation company headquartered the construction of the Shell plant, one of the largest such in New Orleans, founded in 1933. Today, CBC is one of the projects in the nation.

most diverse marine transportation companies in the US. “Providing high-quality project cargo services has put

Since the late 1980s, Canal Barge has been applying our name out there,” Little commented. “Construction their logistical ‘know how’ to the deck barge division and contractors may have rented barges from us to help manage in the last 10 years, the company has accelerated the devel- their services,” Little said, “but they may not have known opment of additional and unique expertise in project cargo that we offer a full suite of logistical services as well.”

August 2019 46 MN