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74 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? SEPTEMBER 2013 we had the opportunity to buy a signiÞ -cant diesel engine company, we bought KSea in 2011 and we were able to buy Allied and Penn Maritime. For us, that was kind of the normal business cycle that creates opportunity. Someone once told me that when business is bad, it?s never going to get any better, and that when business is good, it?s never going to get bad; I?ve always been somewhat of a contrarian: when business gets re-ally good I get nervous and when it gets really bad I get excited!Did the fast change in the energy pro- Þ le of the U.S. take you by surprise? Three or four years ago, as you?ll see in our public comments, it was clear to us that natural gas would be a real game changer. What we didn?t pre- dict was the liquids that would come out of it.The collapse of natural gas prices conspired to rejuvenate the petrochemi-cal business, whereas people were talk-ing about closing plants, they talked about building them. New regulation is a fact of any indus- try. Today, are there any new rules and regulations coming down that you Þ nd tricky and/or troubling? The best is to take a deep breath and accept it, because it?s going to happen. Our strategy on regulation is to understand it, try to inß uence it in a positive way. We actually think that new regulation helps to level the playing Þ eld, because it?s going to be easier on a company like Kirby. I worry not so much about regula-tions that can impact us, I think I?m more concerned about regulation or policy that can be implemented on our customers. Regulations that change the competitiveness of the chemical or reÞ n-ing business would be detrimental to us because it would in turn reduce volumes that we carry. The energy and chemical renaissance that is occurring, principally because of the liquids that come out of shale deposits and natural gas, is very good for us. It went from a relatively mature business to one that is growing.Which regulation(s) do you think has been the most positive impact on the market, on your business? I think the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 had a positive effect in signi Þ -cantly reducing spills and that?s good for society, the environment and business. I think the vapor control regulations in the handling and disposal, keeping them away from people, are positive.As I already said, I don?t think all regulation is necessarily bad. There are plenty of examples of bad regulations, where you have no idea of the conse-The Workboat Edition ? Kirby?Companies are successful because you have a bunch of people pulling their oars at the same time. They do the little things more right. That requires everybody working to make it successful.? MR #9 (74-81).indd 74MR #9 (74-81).indd 749/4/2013 5:05:49 PM9/4/2013 5:05:49 PM
