HIGMAN BARGE LINES

Higman Marine Grows:

Innovation and New Building are Key Movers for this Gulf Coast Bulk Transportation Provider.   Fleet And Staff Have Doubled In Ten Years Gordie Keenan, Higman's vice president of training told MarineNews in January, “We have 54 inland towboats, the majority of which are rated at 2,000 horse power, and 116 inland tank barges. Today our vessels are bigger with more horsepower, pushing more barrels, than ten years ago.” The company carries a myriad of crude oils and refined products for its clients on a fleet of barges and inland towboats that has doubled in number over the last ten years. Today, Higman has a workforce of 415 employees, also nearly twice what it was a decade ago.   Higman Marine: By the Numbers Founded: 1917 Barges (today / 2002): 116 / 59 Inland tow boats (today / 2002): 54 / 28 Bulk Commodities Carried: crude oil, condensate, # 6 fuel oil, natural gasoline, xylene, para xylene, benzene, gasolines, naphtha, raffinate, reformate, diesels, jets fuel and others. Total Mariners (today / 2002): 356 / 162 Total Employees (today / 2002): 415 / 201 Offices (5): Houston, Channelview, Orange, Covington, Mobile, AL Earnings: Proprietary Source: Higman Marine  

Hope Shipyard Delivers M/V Redfish

Higman Marine Services of Houston, Texas, took delivery of its newest vessel, the M/V Red Fish. The vessel was built in five months by Hope Shipyard, located in Dulac, La. The pushboat is slightly larger than previous vessels built for Higman, measuring 78 ft by 32 ft with a 10 ft depth. The M/V Red Fish headed out from Hope’s fabrication yard on the Houma Navigational Waterway after a quick delivery to meet up with her first tow

Memco Barge Line Sold

American Electric Power Co. Inc. signed a definitive agreement with Progress Energy Inc. to buy its MEMCO Barge Line Inc. for $270 million, in a deal AEP said would immediately add to its earnings. Columbus, Ohio-based AEP said its AEP Resources Inc. wholly-owned subsidiary will buy 1,200 hopper barges and 30 towboats from Electric Fuels Corp., a Progress subsidiary, making AEP one of the leading barge operators. "The coupling of the MEMCO barge assets with our existing fleet will add

Waterways Councinl Names New Officers, Directors

At its Annual Meeting held October 1 in Houston, the Board of Directors of Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI) elected the following officers and Executive Committee members for 2007-2008: Dan Mecklenborg, Senior Vice President, HR & Chief Legal Officer, Ingram Barge Company, Chairman; R. Barry Palmer, WCI, President and CEO; Steve Little, President and CEO, Crounse Corporation, General Counsel; Peter Stephaich, Chairman, Campbell Transportation Co

American Commercial Barge Line Will Use Originals Online

American Commercial Barge Line announces its decision to use Originals Online to enhance the exchange of barge freight commercial documents with its customers. The system uses the patented eOriginal technology, providing a secure, web-driven process for initiating, signing, endorsing, verifying and storing electronic barge freight transaction documents. James F. Farley, ACBL’s Senior V.P. of Marketing said, “We are pleased to offer our customers an opportunity to join us in reducing our

USCG Issues Notice

The U.S. Coast Guard issued a Notice stating that the regulations issued on April 23, 2002 establishing a special load line regime for river barges operating on certain Lake Michigan routes came into effect on June 20, 2002. Owners or operators of dry cargo river barges desiring to operate on those Lake Michigan routes must submit barge information to the Coast Guard in order to qualify for the special regime.

News:Hope Services Readies Another Push Boat

Hope Services of Dulac, La., is putting the finishing touches on the 20th in the series of their popular 72x30-ft. pushboats. The last two, the 18th and 19th to the design, were built for Higman Towing of Houston, and were delivered in May and August of 2002. Each boat in the series is powered by a pair of 12-cylinder Cummins KTA38 M0 engines rated for 850 hp at 1,800 rpm. The engines turn into Twin Disc 540 gears with 6.14:1 reduction. The 73 x 56-in

Coast Guard Responds to Barge Fire

According to reports, A cargo van whose contents caught fire on a barge was still billowing smoke as the vessel was being towed to Juneau from Frederick Sound. Officials said the fire broke out in the van, which was full of solid waste being shipped on an Alaska Marine Lines barge from Sitka to the disposal site in Washington state. A firefighting tug from Petersburg and a Coast Guard cutter hosed the blaze through the night

Virginia Asphalt Spill Worse Than Originally Thought

The Coast Guard has drastically increased its estimates of the amount of asphalt spilled from a grounded barge on the James River in Virginia, saying up to 63,000 gallons have leaked from a tank holding more than twice that much, according to a PilotOnline report. Most of it is concentrated beneath and along the sides of the 250 ft., nearly submerged barge, where divers were attempting to find the leak and plug it. More than 2

Kirby Buys Hollywood Marine, TriggersDebt Fears

Kirby Corp, the largest U.S. tank barge operator, recently agreed to buy Hollywood Marine Inc., an inland tank barge company based in Houston, Texas, for about $325 million. While the company views Hollywood's operations as complementary to its core inland tank barge operations, some analysts were immediately skeptical of the effects on Kirby's bottom line. Standard & Poor's placed its triple-'B' corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings for Kirby Corp