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Kirby Corporation has announced the completion of the acquisition of K-Sea Transportation Partners L.P., with K-Sea becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Kirby.

K-Sea is an operator of tank barges and tugboats participating primarily in the coastwise transportation of refined petroleum products in the United States. Headquartered in East Brunswick, New Jersey, K-Sea has major operating facilities in New York, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Seattle and Honolulu.

The total value of the transaction is approximately $604 million (before transaction fees), consisting of $228 million of cash paid to K-Sea common and preferred unit holders and the general partner, $263 million of cash to retire K-Sea’s outstanding debt, and $113 million through the issuance of approximately 1,939,000 shares of Kirby common stock valued at $58.28 per share, Kirby’s closing share price on July 1, 2011.

The transaction was financed through a combination of a new $540 million bank term loan and the issuance of Kirby common stock.

K-Sea’s fleet, which comprises of 58 tank barges with a capacity of 3.8 million barrels and 63 tugboats, operates along the East Coast, West Coast and Gulf Coast of the United States, as well as in Alaska and Hawaii. K-Sea’s tank barge fleet.

54 of the barges are doubled hulled and the fleet has an average age of approximately nine years, making it one of the youngest fleets in U.S coastwise trade. K-Sea’s customers include major oil companies and refiners, many of which are current Kirby customers for inland tank barge services.

Kirby Corporation, based in Houston, Texas, operates inland tank barges and towing vessels, transporting petrochemicals, black oil products, refined petroleum products and agricultural chemicals throughout the United States inland waterway system, and operates offshore tank barges and tugboats transporting mainly refined petroleum products in the United States coastwise trade.