Kirby has pegged the second half of 2021 for when things will start picking up.

Chief executive David Grzebinski said the inland marine business would see utilisation jump as high as 90% by year's end, with rate improvement following utilisation, while its coastal fleet would probably suffer due to reductions in size.

"Although Kirby’s businesses continue to be challenged by the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated unprecedented declines in demand, we believe that improved business activity and utilization levels will occur in the second half of the year," Grzebinski said in the company's fourth-quarter earnings statement.