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MARINE VESSEL OPERATORS family tug company dating to the 1860s,” he said. When asked how his company has endured, Buckley McAllister replied simply, “By adapting to changing cus- tomer needs. Today’s ships are growing in size and capacity to benefi t from economies of scale. Our customers require more power now but ship calls are declining.” This year, McAllister welcomes three newly built Z-drive or azimuth thruster tugs, making one third of its fl eet mod- ern Z-drive tractor tugs. The Buckley McAllister, a 5,150- hp tractor tug built by Senesco Marine in Rhode Island, was launched in June and is based at McAllister’s Providence site. Buckley’s sister vessel, the Eric McAllister, will be delivered soon, the company said in early July. This fall, McAllister plans to launch the Tate McAllister, a 6,000-hp tractor un- der construction at Washburn Doughty in Maine. “These new tugs expand our vessel escort and emergency response capabilities,” Buckley McAllister said. ”We’re in- vesting to improve services to our customers. That’s the best way to assure a resilient business.” Among their demands, “some of our customers are insisting that we increase our safety-management-system standards,” he said. Appropri- ately enough, Buckley McAllister this spring completed his tenure as chairman of American Waterways Operators, the tugboat, towboat and barge industry trade group. He re- mains a member of the AWO’s board of directors. Edison Chouest: Busy Building For Offshore Boom Shipbuilder Edison Chouest Offshore, based in Cut Off, La., got its start in 1960 when founder Edison bought a 65-foot steel-hulled shrimp boat and hauled supplies to an offshore rig. The family-run fi rm swelled into a ship construction and oilfi eld services leader, with more than 7,000 employees worldwide. ECO’s fl eet now exceeds 250 specialized offshore service and support vessels. At the helm is president and CEO Gary Chouest, the son of Edison--who passed away in 2008. The company has thrived because of its strong team, which worked many thousands of hours often into the night, and by taking risks, Chouest said. In the 1960s, ECO bought and upgraded old vessels, and in1974 it built North American Shipbuilding in Larose, La. That yard produced cargo and utility vessels and expanded to offshore specialty vessels, along with ships for the federal gov- ernment. In 1996, Chouest affi liate North American Fabri- cators opened in Houma, La, and then affi liates Gulfship in Mississippi and Navship in Navegantes, Brazil opened. In the late 1990s, Chouest built two C-port facilities at Port Fourchon, La. to transfer cargo from deepwater vessels. Last year, the company said its order books included 40 new-builds at its U.S. Gulf affi liate yards and its Brazilian and Polish affi liates. Among them were 17 diesel-electric, 312-foot platform supply vessels, with options for anoth- er 20. The company said it was producing four sub-sea construction vessels for Gulf of Mexico service. The new- builds included a refueling vessel, a multi-purpose con- struction supply vessel, a diesel-electric well stimulation boat and seven fast supply vessels. Chouest’s Navship in Brazil, its largest affi liate with over 1,600 employees, has been building diesel-electric PSVs and anchor handlers. Early this year, ECO acquired seven PSVs that were un- der construction in south Louisiana when it bought assets from Bee Mar LLC, based in Broussard, La. This spring, Westport, LLC, a group including Gary Chouest and oth- er Chouest members, acquired the assets of Washington state’s Westport Shipyard, Inc., the largest North Ameri- can yacht builder. The Chouest family also owns American Custom Yachts in Stuart, Fla. Today, it remains busy in all of its core markets. Interlake Steamship Invests In And Repowers Its Fleet Interlake Steamship Company in Middleburg Heights, Ohio is the largest, privately held U.S.-fl agged Great Lakes shipping operator, carrying nearly 20 million tons of bulk material in a ten-month season for the steel, utility, con- struction and grain industries. The fi rm was launched in 1913 in a consolidation that united vessels managed by Pickands Mather & Co. in Ohio. Today, it is an industry leader with plans to convert its fl eet to clean-burning LNG for propulsion. “With more than a century in business, our company is very proud of its continued investment in fl eet improve- ment,” Brendan O’Connor, Interlake’s vice president of marketing and marine traffi c, said in July. The fi rm’s fl eet of ten vessels, with capacities of between 21,000 and nearly 70,000 gross tons, are between 690 feet and 1,013 feet long. In the last decade, Interlake has repowered four of its vessels. In 2010, the company upgraded the 1,013-foot MV Paul R. Tregurtha, which was built in Ohio in 1981 and is the longest ship on the Great Lakes. The vessel’s Pielstick engines were replaced with reduced emissions MAK diesel engines. In another innovation, the 767-foot Kaye E. Barker was converted from steam to diesel in 2012. Interlake received the Midwest Clean Diesel Initia- tive Leadership Award from the U.S. Environmental Pro- tection Agency in 2010. The company’s fl eet is the only Great Lakes operation to participate in the Coast Guard’s www.marinelink.com MN 37 32-49 MN Aug14.indd 37 7/18/2014 1:32:05 PM
