Kirby after Horbeck's towing division?

[tugboat146]

Anybody else hear that Kirby is courting Hornbeck's towing division. Gee I wonder if they will all be layed off and told to reapply for their jobs. The gossip around NY harbor is that it is almost a done deal.

[kfj]

Good luck.

[TugDr.]

If there is any truth to this then Kirby is making a major move in the NYC market.... They have already bought K-Sea and Seaboats.... and seeing as how k sea just De-certified their union, everyone may be in for a payday surprise.... If they take hornbeck as well with Bouchard and Dann laying off..... not a pretty employment picture...........

[ryanwood86]

I heard that. I would hope Kirby would give them the chance to come over to Kirby and stay on the boats or since Hornbeck has a shortage on their supply vessels, those guys could move over there. Who knows, but I hope it works out. I just had a friend move from the supply vessles to the tugs.

[wafinator]

Ksea will put the 333 to vote in February, but it seems likely to me they'll vote to form an independent bargaining unit of their own. The status of other big NYH companies like Moran, Reinauer, and Bouchard are also vastly different from the likes of Hornbeck, Dann and Ksea. Almost half of the Ksea-Kirby deal was buying up bad debt... Hornbeck is infamous for not having pinned their big boats when they had the chance and it's now costing them contracts. I remember hearing about them being on the brink 2 years ago. The others are on firmer ground. And let's be frank here, Bouchard firing people isn't exactly news, but the company as a whole is generally in good shape with most of their equipment paid for and on contract.

With Seaboats it's obvious Kirby wanted the barges which are fairly new and as ive been told, match others in the KSea-acquired fleet. Being able to swallow a smaller competitor I'm sure sweetened the deal, but I think it was mostly for the equipment, IMHO. I don't think we have to start playing the Imperial March quite yet.