While low commodity prices certainly are a mixed bag for south Louisiana’s industrial sector, low gas prices have been great for chemical producers, which in turn is creating opportunities for companies providing equipment and services for heavy lifting.
As Business Report details in a feature from the current issue, a number of large crane and rigging companies from outside the state have moved into south Louisiana in recent years to serve the petrochemical expansion.
The result is increased competition for local companies like Deep South Crane & Rigging.
“Because there’s so much work going on down here right now, a lot of competitors came down this way,” says Margaret Landry Pernici, a Deep South manager and granddaughter of the company’s founder and leader, Camile Landry. “Companies from all over the country.”
Not that Deep South isn’t a major company in its own right.
The company employs some 600 people and recently expanded internationally to Bogota, Colombia. Aside from its decades of experience in the business, its well-trained staff and fabricated components for job-specific tasks, what really helps the homegrown company stand out in an ever-crowded market is its VersaCrane line of cranes, which feature a patented compact design to allow for use in congested areas—such as south Louisiana’s petrochemical plants. But it’s had competitors.
Barnhart Crane is one of the most prominent new Capital Region competitors in the heavy lifting and crane market. Founded in Memphis, the company opened an office in Ascension Parish in 2014, adding to its three Louisiana locations outside of the Capital Region in Westlake, Shreveport and West Monroe. Other companies competing locally include TNT Crane & Rigging, which was founded in Houston; ALL Erection & Crane Rental, from Independence, Ohio; and B&G Crane Service, which is headquartered in Jefferson Parish.
Ben Fromenthal is marketing director for Bengal Industries, a crane, trucking and logistics company headquartered in Prairieville with operations based in Geismar. He, too, has noticed increased competition from outsiders for local work in recent years.
“It’s a no-brainer for these companies to come into a market where we’re bragging about billion-dollar projects,” Fromenthal says. “People are chasing after the dollars.”
