In 1955, Captain Numa J. Guidry assembled a fleet of inland towing vessels to service the Gulf Coast transportation market. He named this company Harvey Canal Towing Company.
Ten years later, Captain Numa's two sons joined the business and assited with the company's introduction to the offshore ocean towing and oil rig transportation industry. The company's name was changed to Harvey Gulf International Marine, Incorporated.
From the early 1960's through the late 1990's, Harvey Gulf maintained and operated a fleet of both offshore, and inland towing vessels. These vessels transported, "jack-up" and semi-submersible drilling rigs, bulk cargo barges, and large structures and facilities via barges as well as liquefied natural gas (propane) barges from Louisiana to ports in the Caribbean, as well as ports along the East Coast and Gulf Coasts of the United States.
In 1988, Shane and Shawn Guidry became the third generation of the Guidry family to operate the family business. Each supported and managed all aspects of the business. In 1997, Shane J. Guidry became President and CEO of Harvey Gulf International Marine, Inc. and Shawn J. Guidry became the Vice President.
The company eventually transitioned from a full service towing operator to one specializing in offshore towing, with a focus on towing large jack-up and semi-submersible rigs in the deepwater and ultra deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico. As part of this specialization, Harvey Gulf divested the company's liquefied petroleum gas division, sold all of its inland towing vessels, and replaced them with larger, more powerful offshore towing vessels. Harvey Gulf also repowered and added equipment to its existing fleet of offshore towing vessels to enable them to perform the specialized service required for deepwater rig towing.
However, in 2014 the Harvey Gulf International Marine's tug division was acquired by the Signet Maritime Corporation of Houston, Texas.