CENAC DONATES BARGE TO TRAINING PROGRAM

With a priest, friends and family members standing by his side, Houma marine industry magnate Benny Cenac presented a fully refurbished barge Tuesday to a local job training program, expressing hopes that the gift would go a long way toward helping build and maintain a viable future waterborne workforce.

South Louisiana Community College’s Workforce Development Training Program will use the barge, to be anchored at Munson Slip in Houma, to train tankermen.

“Terrebonne Parish is and always will be near and dear to our hearts here at Cenac as our birthplace,” 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.”

The need for updated training equipment, Cenac said, became evident during a visit by employees to the training center. The 158 by 40-foot barge replicates a standard Cenac Marine tank barge.