Kirby Corporation (KEX)
Inland tank barge operator with engine services. Read October 20, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025, filed February 17, 2026. Ranked 204 of the 222 Industrials companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
15%
End of 2028
26%
Employees, annual report
5,233
Leading staffing pattern
Inland Water Transportation
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
- Now15%
- End of 202723%
- End of 202826%
- End of 203027%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 58%
- Becomes checking a model's work 32%
- Handed over with lighter checks 9%
The filing counts 3,054 marine employees with 436 in coastal operations, 2,072 in distribution and services and 107 corporate, so the split is counted.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 15% now, 23% at the end of 2027, 26% at the end of 2028, 27% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 27% desk work, 10% people work and 63% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 58% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 32% becomes checking a model's work and 9% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
5,233 employees as of December 31, 2025 (stated). The filing says the large majority of employees are in the United States, without a count.
The filing: “The Company has approximately 5,233 employees, the large majority of whom are in the United States.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Inland Water Transportation | 50% | The filing counts 3,054 marine transportation employees, 2,337 of them vessel crew (a); the inland tank barge crews and the segment's shore staff, 2,618 after the coastal vessel employees, are inland water transportation. |
| Deep Sea, Coastal, and Great Lakes Water Transportation | 8% | The filing counts approximately 436 vessel employees in the segment's coastal operations (a), many under collective bargaining agreements. |
| Commercial and Industrial Machinery and Equipment (except Automotive and Electronic) Repair and Maintenance | 40% | The filing counts 2,072 employees in distribution and services (a), technicians certified on diesel engines, transmissions and power generation equipment; the parts distribution and manufacturing inside the segment stay with the service work, flagged. |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 2% | The filing counts approximately 107 general corporate employees (a), a stated corporate count under rule 6, kept under rule 5 because it is counted. |
What the filing says about the workforce: Vessel employees work varying schedules; non-vessel employees mostly full-time; about 214 Kirby Offshore Marine and 125 Penn Maritime crew members and 48 S&S employees are under collective bargaining agreements, with many coastal vessel employees in certain areas; inland operations are not unionized.
What the filing says about AI
1 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing says the company adopted an Artificial Intelligence Use Policy to mitigate cybersecurity and other risks of using AI technology.
- “The Company has also adopted an Artificial Intelligence Use Policy to mitigate cybersecurity and other risks associated with use of artificial intelligence technology.”
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20230median 1
- Fiscal 20241median 4
- Fiscal 20251median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 5,233 | 2026-02-17 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 5,414 | 2025-02-18 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 5,450 | 2024-02-20 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 5,200 | 2023-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 5,125 | 2022-02-18 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 5,400 | 2021-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 5,700 | 2020-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 5,650 | 2019-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 5,775 | 2018-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 4,000 | 2017-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-31 | 4,200 | 2016-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-31 | 4,800 | 2015-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-31 | 4,575 | 2014-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-31 | 4,675 | 2013-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2011-12-31 | 4,225 | 2012-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2010-12-31 | 2,615 | 2011-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2009-12-31 | 2,675 | 2010-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2008-12-31 | 3,100 | 2009-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2007-12-31 | 3,100 | 2008-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2006-12-31 | 3,000 | 2007-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2005-12-31 | 2,450 | 2006-03-06 | 10-K |
| 2004-12-31 | 2,375 | 2005-03-04 | 10-K |
| 2003-12-31 | 2,425 | 2004-03-05 | 10-K |
| 2002-12-31 | 2,300 | 2003-03-05 | 10-K |
| 2001-12-31 | 2,200 | 2002-03-06 | 10-K405 |
| 2000-12-31 | 2,200 | 2001-03-05 | 10-K405 |
| 1999-12-31 | 2,200 | 2000-03-09 | 10-K405 |
| 1998-12-31 | 1,570 | 1999-02-25 | 10-K405 |
| 1997-12-31 | 1,850 | 1998-03-04 | 10-K405 |
| 1996-12-31 | 1,925 | 1997-03-05 | 10-K |
| 1995-12-31 | 1,950 | 1996-03-13 | 10-K |
| 1994-12-31 | 2,300 | 1995-03-15 | 10-K405 |
| 1993-12-31 | 2,050 | 1994-03-15 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The distribution and services segment holds parts distribution and equipment manufacturing beside the service work; the filing counts the segment as one, so it is read at equipment repair and maintenance.
- The U.S. share is stated only as the large majority, so it is left null.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001193125-26-054016, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
The report on Kirby Corporation, $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of Kirby Corporation's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 15% now and 26% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Kirby Corporation's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Kirby Corporation employ?
- 5,233 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states.
- What kinds of work make up Kirby Corporation's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 4 industry staffing patterns, the largest Inland Water Transportation; by those patterns the work is about 27% desk work, 10% people work and 63% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Kirby Corporation's annual report say about AI?
- 1 sentence in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 0, 1 and 1 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 20, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.