Odalys Broussard Charts New Waters for Calcasieu Marine Logistics

Odalys Broussard learned to read the Calcasieu Ship Channel before she learned to drive a car, riding along on her uncle's tugboat during summers as a teenager. That early apprenticeship eventually became a career, and now a company: Calcasieu Marine Logistics, which Broussard founded in 2016 with two secondhand tugboats and a single dock lease.

"People assume maritime services is a man's world, and honestly it mostly still is," Broussard said from her office overlooking the ship channel. "But I grew up on these boats. I wasn't asking permission to belong here, I already belonged here."

Growing With Lake Charles's Industrial Boom

Calcasieu Marine Logistics launched just as the Lake Charles area entered a period of major industrial expansion, with new petrochemical and LNG facilities driving unprecedented vessel traffic through the ship channel. Broussard's company initially focused on ship-assist towing, guiding tankers and cargo vessels safely through the channel's tighter bends, before expanding into barge fleeting and dock management services.

The company now operates a fleet of seven vessels and manages fleeting operations at three separate dock facilities, serving both the industrial plants along the channel and the smaller commercial fishing and shrimping fleets that share the same waterways. Broussard has been careful to maintain relationships with both constituencies, something she says sets her company apart from larger, out-of-state maritime operators.

"The big multinational service companies show up, do the industrial work, and never think twice about the shrimp boats trying to get past them," Broussard said. "We coordinate with everybody, because everybody out here is somebody's livelihood."

Investing in the Next Generation of Mariners

Broussard has made workforce development a priority as the maritime industry nationally faces a shortage of licensed captains and deckhands. Calcasieu Marine Logistics partners with SOWELA Technical Community College's maritime program, offering paid deckhand positions to students working toward their Coast Guard licenses, and the company covers a portion of licensing exam costs for employees who complete two years of service.

"Odalys built a real pipeline, not just a jobs board posting," said Terrence Fauria, a SOWELA maritime instructor who has placed more than a dozen students with Calcasieu Marine Logistics since the partnership began in 2021. "Her deckhands leave with real wheelhouse hours, not just classroom time."

The company has also made a point of recruiting women into roles historically closed to them in the maritime trades. Broussard currently employs three female deckhands and is mentoring one toward her captain's license, a process she went through herself a decade ago while facing skepticism from some longtime channel operators.

"I had captains who wouldn't hand me the wheel at first," she said. "Now I'm the one hiring. That's not lost on me."

Looking ahead, Broussard is planning to add two additional vessels to the fleet in 2027 to keep pace with continued industrial expansion along the channel, including new export terminal construction that is expected to further increase vessel traffic. She's also exploring a modest fleet electrification pilot, aiming to reduce fuel costs and emissions on the company's shorter fleeting routes.

"This channel raised me," Broussard said. "I intend to still be working it long after most people have forgotten I was ever the new boat on the water."