Donated barge being used for worker training

Open enrollment is underway at South Louisiana Community College for a training program of the next generation of maritime industry workers.

Houma-based Cenac Marine donated a refurbished oil and gas tank barge last November to South Louisiana Community College for training students.

Cenac representatives met with Capt. Carl Moore, assistant dean of marine operations at South Louisiana Community College, and discovered the need for updated equipment, owner Benny Cenac Jr. said in a news release.

“From the very start of this project, I have been excited about what we can offer to the community and to those interested in becoming tankermen,” Cenac said. “My company and I are fortunate to have the opportunity to provide a hands-on learning experience to many people for years to come.”

The 158-foot-by-40-foot training vessel replicates a standard Cenac Marine Services tank barge and will be used for the training. The barge will be located at Munson Slip in Houma where South Louisiana Community College tankerman training will take place.

“The barge donated by Mr. Cenac and Cenac Marine services has been a game changer,” Moore said. “We’re excited to be able to offer hands-on, real-life experience while under the supervision of an instructor. This will help everyone in a way we just haven’t been able to in the past.”

Depending on the size of the class, hands-on barge training can last about eight hours per session. The college will offer the class every two weeks depending on instructor availability.

The program currently has two Cenac boat captains serving as instructors during their off-time, the company said. Both captains have been state certified to teach the 32-hour course.

After completion of the course, students are required to complete basic firefighting training before they can become certified tankermen.

The economic benefits of having this training tool are also vital, said Matt Rookard, CEO of the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority. Having these training partnerships and equipment in place will help in attracting more companies to the area, he said.

“The No. 1 thing that comes up in meetings with companies that want to move down here is workforce development. Before costs, before tax structure, it’s workforce development. The reason is simple. You can have the lowest costs in the world, but if you can’t get the people to do the job, then it doesn’t matter,” Rookard said.

Those interested in taking the class can register at 331 Dickson Road in Houma, where the barge is housed and the site of the college’s Terrebonne campus. It has 10 other campuses in Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, Livingston, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary and Vermilion parishes.

For more information about South Louisiana Community College and its Maritime training offerings, visit solacc.edu.

--Staff Writer Dan Copp can be reached at 857-2202 or at dan.copp@houmatoday.com.

Congratulations to Fletcher Technical Community College for being ranked #2 on the list! Such an asset to the community!

NEW ORLEANS — With back-to-school season upon us and a year of community college nearly three times less expensive than a year at a public four-year college, the personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on 2018’s Best & Worst Community Colleges, coupled with its state-by-state ranking of the Best & Worst Community-College Systems.

To determine where students can receive the best education at the cheapest rates, WalletHub compared 715 community colleges across 17 key indicators of cost and quality. The data set ranges from the cost of in-state tuition and fees to student-faculty ratio to graduation rate.

In Louisiana, community colleges ranked as follows:

Houma company to build new tugboat

A Houma-based shipyard said it’s joining forces with a New Orleans company to build the most powerful ship-assisting tugboat on the Mississippi River.

Main Iron Works announced last week it’s partnering with the New Orleans-based Bisso Towboat Inc. to build its 12th tugboat.

Bisso Towboat Inc. awarded the contract earlier this summer to Main Iron Works with plans to build a new 100-foot, 6,008-horsepower, Tier 4-compliant ASD tractor tug.

Tier 4 is a set of emissions requirements established by the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce emissions.

Construction of the vessel will begin later in the season with a projected completion date of fall 2019, the company said.

Scott Slatten, Bisso’s president, said the new tugboat will have a similar structure to the recently built vessel, the Liz Healy.

“It will be very similar structurally and from a profile to our last new build, Liz Healy, as the vast majority of the changes will be in the engine room for the SCR system and larger Z-drives and a larger bow winch and bow staple to accommodate the increased horsepower/bollard pull,” Slatten said. “Beyond that, we were able to pretty much use our existing design with some minor changes in tankage and hull and the above.”

Main Iron Works owner Arlen “Benny” Cenac Jr. said the new tugboat will be first of its kind for the company.

“We are proud to partner with Bisso as they build the most powerful ship-assist tug on the Mississippi River,” Cenac said. “This is an opportunity we are privileged to be a part of. It’s our 12th build for them and we look forward to many more. This is our first Tier 4 boat, and it’s always such a pleasure to work with Bisso, a longtime customer of Main Iron Works.”

Founded in 1947, Main Iron Works specializes in the building, repair and repowering of marine vessels and barges.

--Staff Writer Dan Copp can be reached at 857-2202 or at dan.copp@houmatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter@DanVCopp.

Congratulations to two Houma companies for being recognized on Inc.com's 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies list -- 5-year-old Pelican Waste & Debris, LLC ranked #318 and JJR Construction ranked #1824! Also a shout out to Walk-On's Bistreaux & Bar as the Baton Rouge-based company with a Houma location made the list as well (#1756).

New marine research center coming to Houma

A partnership of local education organizations is developing a new marine research campus in Houma.

This new campus, on Dickson Road, the result of a partnership among Fletcher Community College, the South Louisiana Community College and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, or LUMCON, based in Cocodrie.

LUMCON’s goal is to increase society’s awareness of the environmental, economic and cultural value of Louisiana’s coastal and marine environments through research and education programs. LUMCON Executive Director Craig McClain said the campus is available for all who want to collaborate with others.

“The idea of the campus is collaborative,” said McClain. “There will be a lot of focus on work-force development and retraining. There will be a lot on learning technology and innovation. It’s a big, collaborative space. We’re looking for partners among many agencies to come put representation on this campus in Houma.”

The Houma Main Campus will permit LUMCON to stimulate, coordinate and facilitate scientific research among marine science programs. McClain said he hopes to begin construction sometime in 2019.

“We are confident that any research vessels requiring fuel and maintenance as they sail along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and in the Gulf of Mexico would find not only the skill sets needed locally, but hospitality, as is deeply rooted in our Southern Louisiana culture,” said Terrebonne Economic Development Authority CEO Matthew Rookard.

The current vessels maintenance building and machine shop at the Cocodrie facility are at ground level, making them vulnerable to flooding. It also lacks space for moving and maintaining the scientific equipment.

The new site will also offer a sheltered base of operations and retreat from flooding. LUMCON’s Cocodrie facility is outside the Morganza-to-the-Gulf Levee System. The facility was closed for several days due to flooding from Tropical Storm Cindy, Hurricane Harvey and other storms. The Houma campus and dock would allow for continued operations during storms.

In total, the new facility would save LUMCON $8 million in productivity over the next 20 years by avoiding operational shut down due to high water, McClain said.

“We continue to have meetings to build a campus plan,” McClain said. “We’re really excited about this campus because it will bring a lot of new entities to the region and the state, as well as make a significant impact on the unemployment in the region.”

An economic impact analysis for the campus conducted by LSU estimated the new campus would lead to over $125 million in earnings and more than $470 million in economic output over the next 20 years.

Construction and operations of the campus would generate 337 new jobs, at construction’s peak, and the facility will employ 70 workers upon completion. The construction will cost an estimated $58.8 million dollars.

“There’s a process where this has to be approved by the Legislature, and then the money is secured for the budget. We’re waiting on finalization of that before we begin the process,” said McClain.

-- Staff Writer Scott McLendon can be reached at 857-2204 or smclendon@houmatoday.com. 

Officials Tout Tourism’s Benefits Locally, Statewide

Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser joined Terrebonne Parish officials today to highlight tourism’s contribution locally and statewide.

“The tourism industry continues to grow in a time when a lot of other industries are suffering in Louisiana,” Nungesser said during a brief celebration at Terrebonne’s tourist center in Gray. “It is a shining bright light for Louisiana.”

Nungesser, who is making stops across the state for National Tourism Week, said 2017 was the sixth straight year of record-breaking tourism numbers in Louisiana.

The state welcomed 47.1 million visitors last year, up nearly 500,000 compared to 2016, according to numbers from the tourism and travel research firm DK Shifflet. Those visitors spent $17.5 billion, an average of $371 per person.

The travel and tourism industry generated $1.8 billion in state and local sales tax revenue, an increase of 4.5 percent from 2016, Nungesser said. That revenue represents a 37-to-1 return on investment of state funding. Tax revenue generated through travel and tourism spending saves each household in Louisiana $1,047 a year in taxes that would be needed to maintain current services.

Nungesser also discussed the state’s new branding campaign -- Louisiana: Feed Your Soul, saying it conveys to the world that no other state can offer the bounty of food, music, history and culture Louisiana can.

“This exciting new brand will offer travelers a new outlook – that you may come to Louisiana hungry, but you’ll leave with your soul full of all the rewarding experiences we offer,” he said. “There is truly nowhere else in the world that can feed your soul like we can.”

Here are some other statistics he and local tourism officials offered today:

• Last year, 14.3 million airplane passengers traveled into and out of the state, up 6.7 percent from 2016. It was the first year of direct, international flights from London and Frankfurt, Germany, into Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans.


• In Terrebonne, visitors spent $189.5 million and supported 2,680 jobs in 2016, according to the latest figures available. People from 48 states and 33 countries visited.


• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows 236,300 jobs resulted from visitor spending in Louisiana in 2017. That means one of every 8.5 working adults in Louisiana is employed as a result of the tourism industry.


• Since 2007, tourism is the second fastest-growing job sector in Louisiana, increasing more than 20 percent since then and adding more than 40,000 jobs to the state’s workforce.

Officials look to diversify local economy beyond oil

As south Louisiana continues to reel from the devastating effects of the oil downturn, there are efforts underway to diversify the local economy to make the area less reliant on oil and gas.