March 12, 2021 By Frank McCormack
On a cold February evening frigid by New Orleans’ standards the mv. Jared Phillips, the newest vessel in Parker Towing Company’s fleet, motored through the Harvey Canal, down the Mississippi River past the city’s French Quarter, and through the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal, bound for the Intracoastal Waterway. The 4,200 hp. towboat, built at FMT Shipyard on the Harvey Canal, made its way east to Mobile, Ala., then north to Parker Towing’s headquarters in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where it quickly entered service on the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway (BWT).
The vessel is named for Parker Towing Company’s director of business operations, Jared Phillips, who has been with the company for 10 years. Phillips, a native of Huntsville, Ala., began attending the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 2002. While in college, he met the former Alison Parker Haun, daughter of Parker Towing V
January 8, 2021 By Frank McCormack
Gnots Reserve Inc., a St. Rose, La.-based provider of fleeting and towing services on the Lower Mississippi River, has put a new towboat into service: the mv. Burrwood Wise. The Entech-designed towboat measures 64 feet by 27 feet, with a depth of 9 feet, 6 inches, and boasts 1,500 hp.
Eymard Marine Construction & Repair Inc., located on the Harvey Canal, built the superstructure of the Burrwood Wise, with Gnots Reserve completing the vessel at its repair facility on the left descending bank of the Mississippi River in St. Rose.
The Burrwood Wise is Gnots Reserve’s ninth towboat and its seventh new build since the early 2000s. The vessels work in the company’s 400-capacity barge fleet, while also offering tripping services to grain elevators on the Lower Mississippi in Myrtle Grove and in Jonesville, La., on the Ouachita River.