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70 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? SEPTEMBER 2013 This marine business is a funny one, in that it is critically essential to U.S. commerce, but it often does not get its public and political due. How can this change? To put it in perspective, mari- time is a small part of the overall trans-portation system in terms of revenue and in terms of the number of vessels. How-ever, the magnitude of what we move is signiÞ cant. When you are such a small part of the transportation system it can be hard to get people?s attention. Where you do get some attention, for example, was during last year?s drought when commerce was getting ready to stop (due to low water levels). The U.S. Coast Guard Foundation is set to honor you next month in New York. When you consider this award, what in your mind makes it special or unique? I generally don?t do these kinds of things. I get many requests to do these executive interviews and I turn them down, because it really is not about me. I don?t want this to sound trite, because it isn?t: Companies are successful be- cause you have a bunch of people pull-ing their oars at the same time. They do the little things more right. That requires everybody working to make it success-ful. I?ve been the leader for awhile, and it?s a great honor, but it?s not about me. It?s about the success of an organization and the people that make up that organi- zation working hard every day. When I look at accepting this award, it is really for Kirby; it is Joe Pyne and the Kirby Corporation; I?m representing Kirby. I?ve only done this one other time, and that?s with the Seaman?s Church Institute, and that?s because I believe in what they do. The Coast Guard Foun- dation is really pretty easy too. What you?re doing is helping people, particu-larly in a period where Congress isn?t funding some of the basic needs of that organization. I spent the early part of the summer touring Northern New England stations with a couple of Foundation Board members, seeing some of the sta-tions, the communities they are in, their role in those communities and what they do for the mariner. (Many of them are) in the middle of nowhere and don?t have some of the tools to make their life a little easier. Given that, it is pretty easy to get out your checkbook and help this organization. Frankly I had resisted getting in-volved in the Coast Guard Foundation for years, because you?re so busy and when you get involved in something you either do it or you don?t; you don?t want to do it just to have your name on it. When I got more active and had a better understanding of what it does I became very enthusiastic about it, and I can see myself continuing.When you wake up every day and you assess the business that you?re in and the goals you set, what is the biggest challenge, in your mind, to running an efÞ cient, safe and pro Þ table business? Remember that you?ve got close to 350 mobile worksites stretched from Hawaii to Maine; Brownsville to Pittsburgh. No other marine transporta-tion company has this geographic scope or complexity as Kirby. We?re moving chemicals, we?re moving reÞ ned prod- ucts, we?re moving black oil ? all of things that nobody wants compromised. But the thing I worry about most is an operating incident. We have been very fortunate to not have many, particularly when considering the number of moving parts that we have. The challenge is to really getting the message ? and the pro-cedures and the processes that accompa-nies that message ? down to the people that implement the service we provide. From the captain to the deckhand, we want to do it right, safely and reliably. That?s easy to say, harder to do People need to be properly trained, so we have a very extensive training process at Kirby. I think probably that we are the only company in our business that can issue a certiÞ cate at our training center for all of the licenses that we need in our ß eet. We spend a lot of money on training, and it is worthwhile. If anything keeps me up at night, it?s something that?s going to happen out there that?s going to affect a person or The Workboat Edition ? Kirby?Our ego really isn?t tied up in the number of assets that we own or the size of them; it?s about servicing the customer.? (Photo: Kirby)MR #9 (66-73).indd 70MR #9 (66-73).indd 708/30/2013 10:19:34 AM8/30/2013 10:19:34 AM
