2007-01-22

Center for Public History, University of Houston; University of Houston Libraries, University of Houston

This is an oral history interview with Kerry Neuville conducted as part of the Houston History Project. Kerry Neuville was born and raised in Loreauville, LA and started a shipyard, Neuville Boat Works, on the Bayou Teche with his father and brother in the late 1960s. Neuville Boat Works is one of the leading builders of aluminum crewboats. Kerry started out as a welder and fitter at Breaux's Baycraft and began building airboats on the side before his family started their own shipyard.  Company significance/history: Neuville Boat Works is one of the oldest and well-known builders of aluminum crewboats in the GOM and around the world. The shipyard got it start in the late 1960s when aluminum boats became very popular in south Louisiana because of aluminum's durability and lightweight. In the 1970s, the inland oilfields created a high demand from small, shallow water, aluminum workboats and Neuville took advantage of the business opportunity. They built a few crewboats every month. When the industry moved further offshore, the Neuvilles jumped at the opportunity and began building 105 ft crewboats. During the oil field crunch of the 1980s, the Neuville shipyard went "dormant". The brothers laid off the workforce and waited out the downturn. With little or no debt, the shipyard survived. And with several canceled contracts, the nearly completed hulls that sat in the Neuville's shipyard for much of the 1980s became highly valuable when the market picked up, particularly in Venezuela. From the 1990s forward, the brothers, with help from pioneers like Norman and Joe McCall, have made a mark in the deep water aluminum crewboat industry. Interviewer: Jason P. Theriot.

interviews

Energy development; Petroleum industry and trade; Neuville, Kerry

Loreauville, Louisiana

Oral Histories from the Houston History Project

University of Houston Libraries Special Collections

English

Collection
University of Houston Libraries Special Collections
Houston History Archives
Oral Histories from the Houston History Project

Preservation Location: ark:/84475/pm76451j42s