Young Brothers finance director says expenses rose, draws used for barge progress payments; company withheld some harbor fees

Young Brothers LLC’s director of finance told the Public Utilities Commission during a hearing that the company’s forecasted operating expenses for its 2025 test year are substantially higher than the budget used to set rates and that draws on the company’s previously approved capital credit facility were used to make progress payments for new barges.

At the hearing, finance director Kim Kishimoto testified that an exhibit summarizing January–July 2025 actuals “shows that our expenses are $13,000,000 forecasted higher than what we had anticipated in the budget column in column b.” She said the company has also incurred higher interest expense because it has drawn more on short-term working capital and because market interest rates rose.

Kishimoto said Young Brothers relied on its $60,000,000 capital facility to cover progress payments for two barges delivered in 2024 and that several draws were taken once the lender approved them. Company witness Michael Nakagawa later summarized the draw chronology to the commission: following an initial approval in March 2023 and then an October 2023 request that was denied, the company returned with a June 14, 2024 request tied largely to barge payments that the commission approved. Nakagawa said the company had intended the facility to allow annual draws to cover planned capital needs, but that the company…