Marine expert says lulls part of the boom and bounce of the industry

Woody Falgoux says that if he could predict the future of the oil industry he wouldn’t need his day-job.

But another hat the Thibodaux attorney wears, as a chronicler of south Louisiana’s marine industry history, he acknowledges, provides him with some insight.

His 2008 book, “Rise of the Cajun Mariners: The Race for Big Oil,” specifically follows four Cajun maritime pioneers and provides a rundown of the local industry’s boating evolution.

“The business began in the 1930s when seafood vessels were being used to transport men and supplies to the oil rigs,” Falgoux said, when asked for a recap of that history. “There weren’t any purpose built oil-field vessels when the industry was in its infancy.”

When the offshore oilfield was a novelty, the story told by Falgout relates, oil companies were forced to utilize what resources were available, the mariners who already had boats that traveled local waters. Then, as now, Falgout maintains, adaptability was key. That message becomes clear through the history his book tells.

“What they had were Cajun captains who had shrimp boats and oyster luggers. They understood the waters, tides and the different forces of nature that exist out there in the Gulf of Mexico,” Falgoux said. “They knew where the sandbars were, where the narrow channels were and of course they had vessels that would work for the time being”

Following World War II surplus government vessels were available and used for oilrig operations, making for other transformations. But it was not until later that purpose-built vessels were introduced.

Again, the experience of the local mariners still came into play.

“Minor Cheramie from Golden Meadow operated one of the first prototypes of the supply boats that exist out there today,” Falgoux said. “With the tall forward cabs and long back decks, it looks like a pickup truck.”

The boats that followed this prototype bear the moniker “boat trucks,” a term first coined by their designer.

“Boat truck was a name that the Cheramie’s ran with, but it was designed by a man in Rhode Island named Luther Blount,” Falgoux said.

Around the same that the boat truck was built, a Louisiana engineer by the name of Doc Laborde designed a similar supply boat for Tidewater, a provider of large offshore vessels.

“Before that you would have a tugboat of some kind pushing a barge that carried the supplies,” Falgoux said. “Or you would have a boat that carried supplies, but it just couldn’t carry many of them.”

With today’s boats, long decks can maintain a variety of machines and generators.

“You can even meld cranes to them, that’s what you see out there now,” he said. “They didn’t have all that in the beginning.”

Over time as the industry grew, different vessels were designed for specific oil field tasks, including lift boats.

“There were lift boats, a boat with giant legs like a motorized barge that would motor out to position its the legs down into the seabed,” Falgoux said. “It was like a mini oil rig in one.”

Lift boats prevailed in popularity over a similar vessel, the semi-submersible.

“There have been so many different modifications on these boats that it would be difficult to summarize,” Falgoux said. “Basically you go from seafood vessels, to World War II surplus vessels, to vessels that are designed especially for the oilfield tasks that they had to perform.”

These tasks include carrying men, carrying supplies, pushing or pulling barges or some other form of oilfield work.

“In the beginning the people that succeeded were the ones that understood the water, had the boats and could fulfill the oil companies’ tasks that were assigned,” Falgoux said. “They understood where to go and what to do, but as time evolved, it was basically who was going to see seize the opportunity.”

The oilfield has had ups and downs, from the oil bust o the 1980s to the current drop in oil prices, which are slowly making their way back up. But the principles, Falgoux said, remain the same when it comes to south Louisiana’s marine industry and the businesses, which supply it.

“It’s like any other business, whoever strikes first and works the hardest, prevails,” he said. “If you look at the last 50, 60 years in the oil field, there have been many boom and bust cycles. It is a cyclical business so you can expect more of the same in the future.”

Falgoux maintains that those in the industry have learned well from its past.

“We went through a recent booming, but now certain companies aren’t doing well,” he said. “People were laid off, but some are doing fine. This is not the 1980s.”

That period, he noted, was best described as a “train wreck.”

“It was a graveyard, that’s not what we’re facing now,” Falgoux said. “I think people are smarter now and they’re going to have a lot more cash in their business in case something goes wrong.”

Falgoux simply predicts a continuation of the industry’s cyclical history.

“What I can tell you about the future is that you’re going to see more of it bounce” he said. “That’s the oilfield, that’s history. It’s a boom and bust business.”