Work Boat's Top 10 stories

The editors of Work Boat put together its Top 10 news stories of 2019. Among some of those top storylines, involving Gulf Coast firms, included Kirby Corp. of Houston’s purchase of the fleet of Cenac Marine Services LLC for approximately $244M, and Canal Barge’s buy of five towboats from Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel. Cenac Marine of Houma, La., is a leader in services for the barging and towing industry for over 80 years. Canal Barge is HQ’d in New Orleans. It is one of the more diverse marine transportation firms in America, moving cargo to virtually every part of the world. Its greatest strength is providing dedicated logistics in moving along the waterway between the Gulf Coast and Mid-America, and bought five towboats from Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel’s Marine Transportation division in Alexandria, La. In September, the Boston-based autonomous marine technology developer Sea Machines and boatbuilder Metal Shark of Jeanerette, La., announced a partnering in the construction and development of a the new Sharktech 29 Defiant autonomous vessel. The Defiant is now available for acquisition by government and commercial operators under Metal Shark’s stock boat program. Autonomous vessels are certainly of interest to naval officials. This year has seen a building boom for ferries especially in New York, Washington, D.C., Washington state, San Francisco, and New Orleans. In the New York Metro area, Seastreak added a new 600-passenger ferry, the Commodore. It’s been such a success that Seastreak signed a contract with designer Incat Crowther that will be built at Midship Marine of Harvey, La. NYC Ferry now operates 27 vessels that were built at Horizon Shipbuilding of Bayou La Batre Ala. an Metal Shark. n 2017, NYC signed with Eastern Shipbuilding of Panama City, Fla., to build three new 320-foot Staten Island ferries. (Source: Work Boat 12/17/19) https://www.workboat.com/news/workboat-show-news/the-top-10-news-stories-of-2019/