�We are the oldest liftboat manufacturer ... in the world,� President Ken Serigne says. �[W]e are building components for the largest liftboats [worldwide].�

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When Elevating Boats LLC founder Lynn Dean established his first company, Universal Repair Service, in 1949 with twin brother, Orin, they vowed to “fix anything except a broken heart and the break of day,” the company says. On a welding assignment for a seismographic crew offshore of Louisiana, Dean was forced to wait several hours for the seas to calm before he could continue his job. The party chief said to Dean, “If you could build a boat that could work in waves like that, you could make a fortune.”

So he did. “Lynn built the first liftboat – or elevating boat as he called it – the Jehu, which got its first job with Shell Oil Co., and his experiences in the early days led to the creation of EBI as well as an entire industry,” EBI President Ken Serigne says. “We are the oldest liftboat manufacturer and operator in the world. We have built and operated some of the smallest vessels in the world and now we are involved with overseas projects, where we are building components for the largest liftboats in the world. We have maintained a very successful operation over many years because we have stuck to what we know and do best.”

The Houma, La.-based company manages a fleet of 25 U.S. Coast Guard-approved liftboats that service oil and gas players primarily in the Gulf of Mexico. Liftboats are self-propelled vessels that become stationary platforms, facilitating offshore work activities above the wave action. “We have designed our liftboats with a keen eye for weight reduction,” Serigne says.

EBI also manufactures and sells “virtually all” accessories associated with liftboats, such as marine cranes, winches, gear reductions and power takeoffs, Serigne says. Its most recent endeavor is manufacturing gear reductions in jacking systems for large liftboats, as well as 10 lattice boom cranes in excess of 250 tons for client Techcrane International Inc., which will be used by Levingston Corp. in Singapore.

Originally, EBI vowed to build as big of a vessel as the industry would require, but “the industry is moving at such a rapid pace and on an international scale that I think it’s more realistic to market components of large projects,” Serigne explains. “We want to take what we’ve done on a small scale and apply our expertise in creating a product that can be used for larger vessels.

“We try to adhere to the fundamental principles that Mr. Dean laid down for us, which was to only do what we can afford to do and not overextend ourselves, and we have been very successful with that philosophy,” he continues. “We have always operated with no debt and continue to do so. We are very proud of the fact that we’ve been able to take care of ourselves in any situation.”

Hurricane Katrina
When Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana in 2005, “our business was devastated,” Serigne recalls. “That tragedy affected us all very deeply. Our roots are in St. Bernard Parish. A lot of our families from that area lost everything they had.”
 

The company provided housing for employees at the industrial site in Houma and eventually moved all of its office personnel and equipment there. “It was a trying time for everyone ... but it made us much stronger mentally and, from a business standpoint, it affected us in a positive way,” Serigne says.�