Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

The Kearney Family has been involved
in the Port of New Orleans since 1882,
when William James Kearney became
Superintendent of his Grandfather’s stevedoring
company. He later incorporated the
company, calling it the New Orleans
Stevedoring Company, Inc. and becoming its
president in 1892.
Upon the death of Kearney in 1943, his
son, William J. Kearney Jr., became president.
He formed an affiliate company, Neeb-
Kearney & Company, which offered customers
the additional services of barge and
railcar, loading and unloading. The company
was formed initially to handle the unloading
of railcars of ammunition for World War II at
the Port of Embarkation in New Orleans. The
ammunition was then loaded into ships by
New Orleans Stevedoring Company, Inc. and
subsequently shipped overseas to supply the
war effort.
Following World War II, New Orleans
Stevedoring was sold in 1956, but services
offered by Neeb-Kearney & Company
continued. In 1971, Michael W. Kearney
became president of Neeb-Kearney and the
company diversified into trucking and warehousing
services, primarily, targeted to the
coffee industry.
Neeb-Kearney was sold in 1996 and The
Kearney Companies, Inc. was formed, with
Michael Wermuth Kearney, as owner and
president. The Kearney Companies, Inc. is a
third party logistics company, offering a wide
range of services to the maritime industry.
Those services include customs brokerage,
import/export forwarding, trucking, warehousing,
railcar loading and unloading and
foreign trade zone operations. The company
operates over 1,000,000 square feet of space.
In 2013, David W. Kearney was appointed
president of The Kearney Companies. He follows
in his Great-Grandfather’s footsteps, and
represents the fourth generation of Kearney’s
in the Port of New Orleans. David’s strong
logistics’ background position the company
well for the future.
Charles E. Wermuth, David’s Great, Great-
Grandfather was a railroad statistician, who
became one of the first Certified Public
Accountants in the State of Louisiana in 1918.
So, one can say that a logistics’ DNA has been
passed on in the Kearney Family.
A lot has changed since 1882 to 2018, but
it is still about customer service, moving cargo
from the origin point to the destination point,
efficiently, at the lowest possible cost.
THE KEARNEY
COMPANIES,
INC.
Bottom: Workers unloading a ship in 1960.
PHOTO COURTESY OF PORT OF NEW ORLEANS ARCHIVES.
THE MARKETPLACE
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