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
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February 26, 2021 By H. Nelson Spencer
Cooper Marine & Timberlands Corporation (CMT), a part of the Cooper Group of companies based in Mobile, Ala., recently took delivery of the first of two vessels from Blakeley BoatWorks, a sister company out of Mobile as well. The twin-screw towboat will serve the company’s fleets between Baton Rouge, La., and Head of Passes on the Lower Mississippi River.
Blakeley delivered the new boat, the mv. Mary Lynn Cooper, a few months ago. The other boat, the mv. Gretchen Cooper, is expected to join CMT’s fleet soon. At 110 feet long and with 3,400 hp., it will be larger than the Mary Lynn and is believed will be one of the first inland waterway vessels to be powered by Caterpillar Tier 4 compliant engines.
February 12, 2021 By Frank McCormack
As a 19-year-old, Bretford Wildrick took a job right out of high school as a welder at Iowa Marine & Repair in Keokuk, Iowa. Wildrick, a native of Hamilton, Ill., near Mississippi River Lock & Dam 19, had grown up watching towing vessels and riverboats at work on the river. His first job was on a construction crew that was building the mv. Tom Edwards, an 800 hp. fleet boat, which was named after the owner of Iowa Marine & Repair.
Wildrick said the owner had intended for the mv. Tom Edwards to propel the business into the vessel construction market, but when that didn’t materialize, Wildrick suddenly found himself out of a welding job.