Kent Furlong, President, Hines Furlong Line, Inc.

Kent Furlong, President, Hines Furlong Line, Inc.

Kent Furlong represents the fifth generation in his family to endeavor in the inland river transportation business. Each generation of the lineage eventually sold their business to a third party, thus subsequent generations were forced to start a new company from scratch. This was no different for Furlong when he established Hines Furlong Line Inc. in 2004 after working both as a deckhand on a vessel and shoreside at a barge line.

HFL began by specializing in leasing and chartering inland tank barges to other barge companies and select end user chemical and oil companies. Recently, towboats and hopper barges have been added to the mix of vessels that it owns and leases to others. Today HFL also operates a fleet of large, high horsepower inland towboats on the Cumberland, Ohio, Illinois, Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers. The company presently employs approximately 425 professional mariners and dedicated shoreside employees.