Kirby Corporation announced that no personnel were injured and no boats or barges suffered any material damage due to Hurricane Ike which struck the upper coast on September 13.
Joe Pyne, Kirby's President and Chief Executive Officer, said,
" is our most significant operating area and is also home to almost 50 percent of the US Petrochemical facilities. We had 303 barges and 83 tow boats in when Hurricane Ike passed through the area. We are pleased to report that no Kirby personnel were injured and our entire barge and boat fleet was intact with no material damage following the passage of the hurricane. Our operations and our customers' operations will obviously be negatively impacted by delays in reopening the waterways and by damage to plant facilities. We did incur some damage to our headquarters building in
Houston but we have been able to work around this issue without disrupting operations. Many plants and waterways were affected by the storm and it's too early to access the impact on Kirby or when operations will be back to normal."
Pyne further commented, "We are currently assessing the impact on Kirby and will confirm or revise our third quarter earnings when the assessment is complete."
Kirby Corporation, based in , , operates inland tank barges and towing vessels, transporting petrochemicals, black oil products, refined petroleum products and agricultural chemicals throughout the inland waterway system. Through the diesel engine services segment, Kirby provides after-market service for large medium-speed and high-speed diesel engines and reduction gears used in marine, power generation and railroad applications.