Press release expected today, It seems like big moves from Centerline (formerly Harley Marine), acquiring several ATB’s with one being the Donna Bouchard and Barge B.272, 628ftx90ft 47ft draft 260k BBL barge) and their respective crews.
I imagine a fairly large shipyard effort to bring these vessels into service.
That’s a lot of equipment in addition to a very large existing fleet.
Maybe keeping the crews is a good thing for transitioning but… I’d weed out Morty’s ‘good old boys’ as quick as possible if I were Management.
They have also acquired, several FOSS barges earlier this year.
IIRC Bouchard a equipment are all mostly SOLAS class which will be a huge adjustment and learning experience for CLL.
Why weed out “The good ole boys?” They perhaps stayed through all this madness. They knew Morty was a kook, but stayed. He did pay decent… May be the best employees that know the boats well. Thinking they will take care of their rig as they had before. Yes, it will require an extended shipyard effort. A lot of that equipment is quite useful. Some, not so much. I do recall a Bouchard rig reaching out to me in GOM when my wheelhouse windows got blown out while pushing in heavy weather. We took care of it, but good to know those guys gave a shit. I knew quite a few Bouchard employees, and sailed with a few… Many were top notch in my book.
It looks like the other bigger tug and 260K bbl barge, Kim Bouchard (with B. 270) is now renamed Lynne M. Rose. If memory serves, I think TOTE ended up with this tug.
There’s a bunch of your so called "New York " tug captains that need to go. They are the most arrogant a holes in the industry. They did many unsafe acts to appease morty in order to keep their jobs. If I was starting a tugboat company , Bringing over captains that have no leadership or management skills would be a big mistake. And it’s already to late on some of the boats that have been taken over
We’ve had a couple of Bouchard tug crew come over to my company. Some have been valuable additions to the fleet and have fit right in… and some were a poor fit, fulfilling every negative stereotype specific to both company and region, where even the New York native crew couldn’t accept them.
People adjust to their environment. Overtime they adapt to the commercial pressures, safety culture, and management style of the company. If they fail to adapt they are out the door.
Changing from Morty to a typical company is going to be a big adjustment that will take some time. Perhaps some former Bouchard guys have been immersed in the Bouchard culture for so long that it will take them a long time to adjust. Maybe some of the have PTSD from years of abuse. Who knows?
The former Bouchard guys have the skills and know the equipment. They know what works well, what doesn’t, and what the work arounds are. They know what needs to be changed. Most of those guys will be significant assets to the new owners. Some won’t.
If I were managing former Bouchard boats, I’d be trying to hire the best former Bouchard guys. I’d help the make the adjustment. I’d expect most to succeed and a few to fail.
Where else would one find experienced crew for these vessels in the current hot job market?
I don’t know much beyond that. The only plausible bits that I got with the scuttlebutt is that it wasn’t so much a negotiation as a one and only offer, but I can’t say if that was an exxageration or not.
