As more oil from North Dakota and West Texas comes into Houston, expect the barge business to boom, Valero Energy (VLO) says. Houston area refiners can only handle so much of the glut, and not enough pipelines connect Texas to the cluster of refineries in Louisiana. The solution will be to ship the oil east via barge, possibly another blow to pipelines that are losing business to rail cars. "It's got to move east," VLO CEO Bill Klesse says of the oil, "so I think you are going to see the barges."Kirby is the largest U.S. barge operator.
Trinity manufactures rail cars and barges.
Both stocks have outperformed the larger market over the last year:
