Cautiously Optimistic
May 16, 2018
Local Colleges Prepping Future Mariners
May 16, 2018
WRITTEN IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CENAC MARINE SERVICES
Just after the turn of the 19th Century the name Cenac was already well-known in Terrebonne Parish for knowing what made boats tick.
The Cenac family had a fleet of oyster schooners, back then powered by sail. But in 1927 Ovide “Jock” Cenac saw the potential for marine transportation as the oil and gas industry took hold in south Louisiana, and he developed a fleet of motorized vessels. Outfitted with Cummins diesel engines, the wooden barges towed rigs, hauled crude and just about anything else that the oilmen – whose company would later be called Texaco – would ask for.
Today, Houma-based Cenac Marine Services, under the leader of Jock’s grandson, Arlen “Benny” Cenac Jr., is a leader in the inland energy transportation business.
An impeccable safety record and a history of the company keeping its word on deadlines and arrivals makes Cenac known throughout the towing industry as a provider of customer service excellence. Cenac’s tank barges and push-boats provide service to major oil companies and refineries. Cenac vessels handle crude oil, residual fuels, feedstocks, lubricants, petrochemicals, refined products and liquefied petroleum gasses or LPG.
Jock Cenac, in the beginning, hauled and pushed pipes and some huge equipment.
The company is also an investor in the industry’s future. Last year Cenac donated a fully refurbished barge to South Louisiana Community College’s Workforce Development Training program. The barge, measuring 158’x40’, replicates a standard Cenac tank barge and will be used for the school’s training of the next generation of maritime industry leaders.
“Terrebonne Parish is and always will be near and dear to our hearts here at Cenac as our birthplace,” Benny Cenac said. “This company will always invest in continuing to produce the best marine personnel in the business. This also assists in making training more readily available to the area. We are all for supporting maritime education, especially so close to home.”
Despite the recent economic downturn in the local oil and marine industry, Benny Cenac is confident that companies like his which work well with innovation and with people will not only survive but prosper.
Today’s fleet consists of 33 inshore vessels, a pair of 9-foot offshore boats, 60 tank barges and nine barges specially equipped for LP gas.
Benny Cenac is proud of his family’s company and its proven ability to grow and stay healthy.
A major asset, he maintains, is his staff, for whom he maintains an open door policy at all management levels.
“We have employees that have been working for Cenac for over 50 years,” he says. “Usually, when people come to Cenac, they stay for the rest of their careers … some have started out as tankermen and ended up as captains.”•
