SBA Shipyard ~ Shipbuilding History

SBA Shipyard

Jennings LA

SBA Shipyard was started in 1965 by Louis Smaihall, formerly of the Harms-Smaihall Shipyard, in Orange TX, and Leland Bowman, formerly of Higman Towing: they built tank barges and small tankers, almost exclusively, until the industry-wide collapse of 1982, although they apparently continued as a tank cleaning yard for some time after that. The yard was at 9040 Castex Landing Road, on the Mermentau River, about 2.5 miles south of the Highway 90 bridge, where Gulf Island's (formerly Leevac's) shipyard is. SBA's yard was later designated a Superfund site and is now a vacant lot but you can see where the docks were. Can anyone tell me why their hull numbers apparently start at 171? Were they a continuation of the Harms-Smaihall numbers?

	O/N	Name	Customer	Type	GT	Delivered	Notes
171	502245	CTCO 182	Cenac Towing	tank barge	594	Feb 1966	(Canada)
174	504473	CTCO 183	Cenac Towing	tank barge	977	Aug 1966	later Par 183, MRL 106
176	506327	Voyager	barge Transport, Inc.	tugboat	145	Dec 1966	later Larry J. Hebert, Southern Star
185	512250	S 2511	Higman Barge Lines	barge	1,363	1968	later A-20, TM3000
186	512647	S 2512	Higman Barge Lines	barge	1,363	1968
187	517152	Toledo Sun	Sun Oil	tanker	2,110	1968	later Marine Success (Singapore)
189	517472	Pittston 60	Pittston Co.	tank barge	1,262	Dec 1968	later McAllister 107, American 21, NRC Reliant
	521533	Thomas G. Goode	Dunbar & Sullivan	towboat	39	1969	later Benjamin Ridgway
195	523487	Elizabeth S		tank barge	3,606	Jan 1969	later Prince George, Martin Endeavor
198	523181	Pittston 21	Pittston Co.	tank barge	1,414	Nov 1969	later Fulton
203	528112	Island Sun	Sun Oil	tank barge	3,839	Aug 1970	later Island 60, NLD
204	531135	Caribe Sun	Sun Oil	tank barge	4,802	Apr 1971	later Maritrans 75, Energy 7002, 7002
208	530671	Revere Sun	Sun Oil	tank barge	1,384	Feb 1971	later Petrojam Barge No. 1 (Jamaica)
209	529859	Providence Sun	Sun Oil	tank barge	1,573	Jan 1971	later VB 26, SC-120 and SC-121
210	535148	Morania 210	Morania Oil	tank barge	2,132	Sep 1971	later Penn No. 210, Weeks 98
211	536307	Peter R. Hearne	Reinauer Transportation	tank barge	1,215	Nov 1971	NLD
213	537280	RTC No. 320	Reinauer Transportation	tank barge	1,216	Feb 1972
217	545087	Peck Slip		tank barge	5,869	Dec 1972	later Domar-118, ST-90, Energy 9501, Barge 9501, NLD
218	556139	Saturn	Ashland Oil	tanker	3,900	Aug 1974	later Centenario Trader (Panama)
219	545745	Hygrade 22	Spentonbush Tankers	tank barge	1,347	Feb 1973	later Energy 2201
224	552065	Interstate 35	Interstate Oil Transportation	tank barge	2,187	Oct 1973	later VB 35
225	552900	Interstate 36	Interstate Oil Transportation	tank barge	2,187	Dec 1973	later VB 36, Strong Island
226	563364	Interstate 71	Interstate Oil Transportation	tank barge	5,467	Mar 1975	later KTC 71
227	571820	Jupiter	Ashland Oil	tanker	4,263	1976	burned 1990
228	557364	Hygrade 24	Spentonbush Tankers	tank barge	1,347	June 1974	later Energy 2202, NRC Independence
229	574128	Interstate 72	Interstate Oil Transportation	tank barge	5,467	June 1976	later MSRC 620
232	576625	S.T. 85	Sheridan Transportation	tank barge	5,323	Sep 1976	later Energy 8701, 8701
235	587329	Morania 400	Morania Oil	tank barge	5,651	Oct 1977	later Penn No. 400
237	589642	S.T. 65	Sheridan Transportation	tank barge	4,064	Mar 1978	later Energy 6505, 6505
239	603306	Morania 410	Morania Oil	tank barge	5,293	Mar 1979	later Penn No. 410
240	630040	Apex Houston	Apex Oil	tank barge	5,407	Feb 1981	later Morania 450, Biscayne
241	625082	Morania 420	Morania Oil	tank barge	4,982	Sep 1980	later Mobil 91, M 91, Morania 420, RTC 90
244	643281	Sonat 81	Sonat Marine	tank barge	5,264	Dec 1981	later Ocean 81, KTC 80, SCT-81
245	652241	Morania 310	Morania Oil	tank barge	2,246	Oct 1982	later Maritrans 32, VB 33, derrick barge Jamestown 2009 (ON 1259978)