May 21, 2021 By Frank McCormack
When Maritime Partners CEO and co-founder Bick Brooks’ parents, Ned and Louise, and brother, Avery, traveled from the Northeast to New Orleans at the beginning of May, they thought it was merely a long-awaited post-COVID vaccines trip to see one another and enjoy some seasonal south Louisiana delicacies, namely boiled crawfish and charbroiled oysters.
And so it came as a huge surprise to Brooks’ whole family when he announced that one of the reasons he’d invited them to town for that particular weekend was to christen Maritime Partners’ newest towboat, the mv. Ned Brooks, which is named for Brooks’ father.
March 5, 2021 By Frank McCormack
Members of the LeBeouf Bros. Towing family gathered February 6 to christen the mv. Miss Andrea, named after the company’s longest-tenured employee, Andrea Joseph.
Joseph joined LeBeouf Towing as a 19-year-old, after earning an associate of business degree.
“I’ve been here ever since and never looked back,” she said.
Now in her 45th year with the company, Joseph said she first worked for Earl Gonsoulin, who joined Willard and Irvin LeBeouf as an equal partner in the company in 1946. The Gonsoulin family bought the company outright in 1968.
Gonsoulin’s son, Dickie, now leads the company, along with his son, Jon. So while LeBeouf Towing is in its third generation of Gonsoulin family leadership, Joseph has faithfully served with all three.
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.