Kirby purchases barge fleet from Seaboats

GREENVILLE — Kirby Corporation has purchased the coastwise tank barge fleet of Seaboats Inc. and affiliated companies consisting of three 80,000-barrel coastwise tank barge and tug units for $42.3 million in cash. The three coastwise tank barge and tug units currently operate along the East Coast and have an average age of five years. Financing of the purchase was through Kirby’s $250 million revolving credit facility.

Joe Pyne, Kirby’s chairman and CEO, said, “The three tank barges are sister barges, built to the same design as our four 80,000-barrel tank barges and will expand our fleet capacity, service capabilities to our customers and provide additional flexibility.”

Kirby Corporation, based in Houston, Texas, is the nation’s largest domestic tank barge operator, transporting bulk liquid products throughout the Mississippi River System, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, coastwise along all three United States coasts and in Alaska and Hawaii.