Vulcan Materials Company News

After a four-day trial, a federal judge ruled on Dec. 18 in favor of the family of Freddie Porter, Jr., a 19-year-old U.S. Navy enlisted seaman from New Jersey who in 2007 was killed when the small craft carrying him was overrun by a tugboat pushing a large flotilla on Virginia's James River. The tug, owned and operated by Vulcan Materials Company, collided with the Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) carrying Porter as he engaged in nighttime military training exercises. The court found the United States Navy 80 percent responsible for Porter's death and Vulcan 20 percent responsible, awarding Porter's family $1,250,000. Attorneys for the victim's family believe the judge's ruling against Vulcan and the Navy will have widespread implications for the nation's tugboat operations in U.S.

Vulcan Materials Company christened the M/V H.A. Sklenar at the company’s Blakely Island sales yard at the Port of Mobile recently. The vessel brings Vulcan’s fleet of Panamax-Class self-unloading vessels to three. The Sklenar and its sister vessels W.H. Blount and Bernardo Quintana, transport high quality limestone aggregates from Vulcan’s Sac Tun quarry on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to markets along the U.S Gulf Coast, the east coast of Florida and the Caribbean. “We are pleased to honor our former chairman and CEO, Herb Sklenar, by naming our third vessel after him,” said Don James, Vulcan’s chairman and chief executive. James said long-term population growth and market demand in the region are expected to continue to increase at levels above the national average…