Community Was at the Heart of Cenac Deal

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BENNY CENAC SAYS WORKERS WILL REMAIN IN PLACE, TERREBONNE WILL BENEFIT FOR THE CHANGE

The past month brought a huge change in the local economy with a pioneer marine transport company shifting an aspect of its operations in an effort to ultimately enhance another.


Cenac Marine Services LLC, a privately held company, and Kirby Inland Marine, a publicly traded nationwide transport firm, announced an agreement in early February by which Kirby will acquire Cenac’s fleet of 36 tugs and 63 barges. According to information supplied by both firms, Cenac’s marine crews will continue working for Kirby and the Cenac vessels are expected to navigate on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and other routine routes.

Kirby officials stated at the time of the sale that the deal involved the payment of approximately $244 million in cash to Cenac.

Cenac’s vessel repair and construction operations, including recently acquired Main Iron Works, will continue under its ownership and management. Vessels of the existing Kirby fleet and those newly acquired, will be among those serviced at Main Iron Works facilities. The company’s campus on La. Highway 182 has not been sold, and operations will continue at that location, company officials said.


Cenac’s Chief Executive Officer, Arlen ‘Benny’ Cenac, the grandson of company founder Jock Cenac, said this deal will be beneficial to both sides. Cenac offered those comments in an exclusive interview granted to Rushing Media.

“We welcome this opportunity for our vessels to integrate within Kirby Corporation’s fleet, while we independently foster growth for our company’s construction and maintenance operations,” Benny Cenac said. “Our company has remained strong through the generations by adapting to new opportunities within the oil, gas and marine transport industries and this continues in that tradition.”

According to Cenac, the transition will be an economic win for Terrebonne Parish — one that’s much-needed during the recent prolonged economic slump.


As a result of the transaction, he said, Houston-based Kirby will move some personnel and related operations resources into Terrebonne Parish.

All of Kirby’s personnel and support operations, including those that involve its current employees living or working out of Terrebonne, Lafourche and St. Mary, were previously based in Houston.

This change will bring more dollars into the economy, according to Cenac, who said the Kirby office in Houma is a huge piece of the deal.


“Kirby will now be operating a satellite office here,” Cenac said. “They will run their local crew changes out of Houma.”

Taking care of the community is something that Cenac said was a must as this transition takes place.

Cenac said he would not have entered the deal without assurances that Kirby would be heavily involved with local community service efforts. That is an area in which Cenac, and his company, have earned a strong reputation, with multiple philanthropic ventures in education and other fields.


In recent months, Cenac has donated thousands of dollars to local causes in an effort to give back to local people in need.

“We are confident that they will be a good corporate citizen in this parish just like we are,” Cenac said. “They employ many people over here but have never had an office or a facility here. They will be renting a facility, at our location. My current personnel crew, transferring to Kirby, will be operating that office for them. There is no loss of jobs involved here. There is the gain of bringing in a big company.”

The Cenac fleet has an estimated 1.9 billion barrels of capacity. They move petrochemicals, refined products, and black oil, including crude oil, residual fuels, feedstocks and lubricants on the lower Mississippi River, its tributaries, and the Intracoastal, for major oil companies and refineries.


The deal is expected to formally close late in the first quarter of this year.

“The acquisition of Cenac’s young fleet of well-maintained inland tank barges and modern boats is an ideal complement to Kirby’s operations,” said David Grzebinski, Kirby’s President and CEO. “Cenac has a strong history of operational excellence and is well respected by the industry and its customers. Cenac’s inland fleet … has an average age of only four years. Similarly, Cenac’s fleet of modern inland towboats and offshore tugboats has an average age of only six years. The addition of these vessels to Kirby’s fleet will not only reduce our average age profile, but also further enable us to avoid significant capital outlays for new vessels in the future.” •

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