Americas News
Bunker Barge Firm Reports Record Profit
U.S. barge operator Kirby Corporation [NYSE:KEX] (Kirby) reports it earned a record profit of $69.1 million in the third quarter of 2013, up from $53.1 million in the same period last year, thanks to strong demand and favourable pricing trends for marine transportation.
Kirby said it also benefitted from the August 2013 sale of its New York Harbor bunkering fleet, which had operated at a loss.
The company's revenues rose 6 percent to $551.1 million year-over-year for the quarter as 25 percent growth in its largest segment, marine transportation, more than made up for a decline in its diesel engine services business.
"For both our inland and coastal marine transportation markets, strong demand, high tank barge utilization levels and favorable pricing trends continued during the third quarter," said Chairman and CEO Joe Pyne.
Kirby said petrochemical, black oil, and refined products fleets in inland markets have been in the 90 to 95 percent utilisation range, and coastal markets improved from 75 to 80 percent utilisation in Q3 2012 to around 90 percent in the same period this year.
"The higher utilization resulted from increased demand for crude oil and gas condensate movements and continued success in expanding the coastal customer base to include inland's major customers with coastal requirements," the company said.
Last year, Kirby expanded its operations with the acquisition of Penn Maritime Inc. and Maritime Investments LLC and the fleet of Allied Transportation Company.
