The Magazine of Moran Towing Corporation

Volume 67November 2020

The Journey ContinuesIn Moran’s New Training Programs, Boots, Books, and Technology Redouble a Shared Vision of Safety

PHOTO CREDITS

Cover: John Snyder, marinemedia.biz

Inside Front Cover: Moran archives

Page 2: Moran archives (FortBragg); Jeff Thoresen (ONE Stork);Barry Champagne, courtesy ofChamber of Shipping of America(CSA Environmental AchievementAwards)

Page 3 : Moran archives

Pages 5 and 7–13: John Snyder, marinemedia.biz

Page 15–17: Moran archives

Page 19: MER archives

Page 20–22: John Snyder, marinemedia.biz; Norfolk skylinephoto by shutterstock.com

Page 23, all photos: Will Van Dorp

Pages 24–25: Stephen Morton,www.stephenmorton.com

Page 25 (inset): Moran archives

Pages 26–27, both photos: Will Van Dorp

Pages 28–29: Marcin Kocoj

Page 30: John Snyder, marinemedia.biz

Page 31 (top): Dave Byrnes

Page 31 (bottom): John Snyder, marinemedia.biz

Pages 32–33: John Snyder, marinemedia.biz

Pages 36–37, all photos: Moranarchives

Page 39, all photos: John Snyder, marinemedia.biz

Page 40: John Snyder, marinemedia.biz

Page 41: Moran archives

Pages 42 and 43: Moran archives

Inside Back Cover: Moranarchives

On the cover:

New hires work to extinguish afire as they undergo hands-onfirefighting training at the MoranNew-Hire Training Course, a.k.a.“Boot Camp.” [Story on page 4]

The Magazine of Moran Towing Corporation

Volume 67November 2020

News Briefs

Cover StoryThe Journey ContinuesMoran’s New Training ProgramsRedouble a Shared Vision of Safety

OperationsMoran’s Wellness Program OffersHealth Coaching

Amid Continued Growth, MER IsNow a Wholly Owned MoranSubsidiary

Ship Call Milestones Record Breakers and Trendsetters: a Snapshot

The FleetBenson George Moran and JudyMoran are Moran’s First Tier 4Tugboats

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Books Queen Mary 2: The Greatest OceanLiner of Our Time, by John Maxtone-Graham

The History Pages Photographic gems from theGrandone family collection

MilestonesThe christenings of four new high-horsepower escort tugs

PeopleCapt. JimMurray; Greg McGinty; Capt.Rodney Magwood; Danny Grandone

Personnel NewsMilestones and Service Anniversaries

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Published byMoran Towing Corporation

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFMark Schnapper

REPORTER John Snyder

DESIGN DIRECTOR Mark Schnapper

Moran Towing Corporation50 Locust AvenueNew Canaan, CT 06840

Tel: (203) 442-2800Fax: (203) 442-2857

www.morantug.com

Opposite page:

The LNG vessel Tangguh Foja isberthed with the assistance ofMoran’s joint venture SMBC tugsat Sempra LNG & Mid-stream’sEnergia Costa Azul LNG terminal,in Ensenada, Mexico.

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NewsBriefs

Norfolk’s Fort Bragg Receives ItsSubchapter M CertificateIn July 2018, the Moran Norfolk tug Fort Bragg be-came the first Moran tug to receive a Certificate ofInspection (COI) under the federal Government’sSubchapter M regulation, which took effect at theoperational level on July 20, 2018.

Subchapter M requirements, which are admin-istered and enforced by the U.S. Coast Guard, com-prehensively regulate vessel seaworthiness, safety,occupational health, certain aspects of environ-mental responsibility, and an exhaustive list ofrelated concerns and equipment connected withmarine towing. As defined by the Code of FederalRegulations (CFR), the rules fall within six basiccategories: operations; lifesaving; fire protection,machinery and electrical systems and equipment;construction and arrangement; and “other regula-tions.” Moran’s compliance will be monitored andcertified by Coast Guard inspectors at regularlyprescribed intervals. All the company’s tugs will becertified by the end of 2022, as part of Moran’sregulations phase-in plan.

Moran Tugs Assist the ONE Storkat Two Ports on Its Maiden Voyage In July 2018, Moran tugs assisted the new OceanNetwork Express (ONE) container ship ONE Storkat the ports of New York/New Jersey and Savannah,Georgia. The ship had reached the U.S. east coastby way of the Suez Canal, after stopping at portsin Asia.

A 14,026-TEU, Neo-Panamax vessel, the ONEStork bears ONE’s distinctive magenta hull, whichthe company says is both its trademark color anda safety measure. “[We hope it will] make the ONEStork and her sister ships much more visible to allthe many other vessels that may pass her in closeproximity over the course of her trading life,”Jeremy Nixon, ONE’s CEO, said in 2018. A ONEpress release in June 2018 described dual systems inthe ship’s main engine, which can flexibly shift be-tween high and low output to improve the ship’sfuel consumption rate and lower its CO2 emissions.

ONE was formed from the merger of contain-er shipping businesses at K-Line, MOL, and NYK.The ONE Stork is the first 14,000-TEU class con-tainer ship to be built for the new company.

Moran’s CSA AwardWins HaveBeen Increasing The number of Moran vessels receiving Chamberof Shipping of America (CSA) awards for occupa-tional and environmental safety rose significantlyduring the three-year period 2017–19.

In 2017, 71 Moran tugs were presented withannual Jones F. Devlin awards for their crew safetyrecords from 2016, and 79 Moran tugs received En-vironmental Achievement Awards honoring theirenvironmental safety records from 2016.

Those numbers increased to 82 Devlin Awardwinners and 81 Environmental Achievement Awardrecipients in 2018.

In 2019, 90 Moran tugs won Devlins, and 93earned Environmental Achievement Awards.

Above at left: Capt. Kevin Caroll, Captain of thePort Sector Hampton Roads, presents Fort BraggCaptain Mike Straughn with a Certificate ofInspection. Flanking Capts. Straughn and Carollare, left to right: Moran Norfolk VP and generalmanager Ken Flowers; GVA Pedro Deveza; MateChris Guy; LCDR Ken McCain, USCG AssistantChief of Inspections Division; and Pete Zohorsky,USCG Chief of Inspections.

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Moran Savannah Staff Save aColleague’s Life with an AutomatedExternal Defibrillator (AED) On March 27, 2018, shoreside staff at Moran Sav-annah saved the life of a fellow employee who hadsuffered a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) while visit-ing the Savannah office. The colleague, Dick Qua,manager of Moran Brunswick, had suddenly andwithout warning lost consciousness and collapsedshortly after arriving at the Savannah facility.

Seeing that Dick was in trouble, Al Cook, Savan-nah’s operating unit manager, immediately reachedfor the office’s wall-mounted AED (automated ex-ternal defibrillator). He was promptly joined in theresponse by Joe Myatt, assistant OUM; Eve Hunter,administrative assistant; and Steve Wynn, the divi-sion’s dispatcher. The four co-workers, all of whomare trained in CPR and AED use, kept cool headsand immediately checked Dick’s vital signs. Find-ing no pulse, they attached the AED’s electrodesto his chest and activated the unit’s diagnosticcomputer by pressing a button on the device.The AED detected a life-threatening cardiac arrest,and, after audibly warning the rescuers to “clear,”automatically administered a defibrillating shockto Dick’s heart. He responded immediately, regain-ing consciousness.

“It was incredible how fast the AED provided[diagnostic] analysis and shocked the individual, andthen how quickly there was a response,” Cook said.

Moran has AEDs stationed at every one of itslocations, in the offices and on board every tug inthe fleet. Sources at Moran headquarters in New

Canaan said that although the devices have been inplace at Moran for 15 years, the Savannah rescuemarked the first time one was used to save a life.

AEDs are easy to operate, and are expresslydesigned to be used by nonmedical people (lay-rescuers). The devices, which are lightweight, port-able, and immaculately designed with clear visualprompts, also issue audible prompts that guide usersthrough the utilization process. (The AmericanHeart Association recommends training, but says itis needed only to instill confidence.)

According to the American Heart Association,an AED will administer a shock only if detects oneof two cardiac malfunctions that can result in SCA.The conditions, ventricular fibrillation (VF) andpulseless ventricular tachycardia, are diagnosed inseconds by the unit’s built-in computer, and oftenrespond to defibrillation. Since SCA can result in death within minutes, immediate interventionis crucial. I

Opposite page, top: The ONE Stork being assisted inSavannah by the Edward J. Moran, Cooper Moran,Laura K. Moran, and Cape Henlopen.

Opposite page, bottom: Accepting a CSA Environ-mental Achievement Award for Moran are NathanHauser, VP and general manager of Moran Philadel-phia (center), Capt. Dan Fitzmartin, and Capt. LeoIwasevic (to Mr. Hauser’s right and left, respectively).

Below: Dick Qua, (center), with (l. to r.) Joe Myatt,Eve Hunter, Steve Wynn, and Moran Savannah VPand general manager Al Cook, in Savannah.

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Cover Story

I. Expanding the Visi o n (Evolving the Culture)

Asked about Moran’s safety culture, MattBaker says,with brisk, friendly earnestness, “It’s a work in pro-gress.” To uninitiated ears, that appraisal mightsound modestly self-deprecating; Moran, after all,has in recent years made dramatic strides in reduc-ing both the frequency and severity of job-relatedinjuries and damages. Moreover, the companyrecently instituted two benchmark training pro-grams: the Moran Center for Learning (MCL) andthe Moran New-Hire Training Course. But Baker,who manages Moran’s Quality, Health, Safety, Sec-urity & Environmental Group, is simply being pre-cise. As someone who has seen maritime safety’sbottomless, horizonless challenge from the inside,he is a firm believer in continuous improvement.If you’re doing it right, he says, a safety culture isnever anything but a work in progress.

Baker is a member of Moran’s Quality and Safe-ty Steering Committee, which in 2011 mapped outa strategy for augmenting Moran’s Safety Manage-ment System (SMS) with additional managementand training platforms. “The SMS remains a corecomponent of Moran’s management and culture;at the same time, we’re always looking for the nextinnovation,” Baker says. The roots of the MCL andthe New-Hire Training Course are in the 2011strategy, which envisioned five pillars of safety pro-ficiency: motivation, communication, information,knowledge, and understanding. The plan’s firstfruit, in 2012, was Moran’s adoption of Behavior-Based Safety (BBS), under the oversight of DavidOlson, who is now Moran’s manager of Behavior-Based Safety. Olson had conducted a sweepingstudy of safety at Moran, and had recommendedto the committee that BBS would be a good firststep, because its motivation-based approach wasknown to spur increases in communication, infor-mation-gathering, and learning as well.

In 2014, with BBS robustly phasing in, Moran’sCorporate Design Team — itself an offshoot of BBS— began contemplating the company’s next steps.Turning its attention to the knowledge- and under-standing-based approaches of training and educa-tion, Moran hired Kelly Curtin as its manager of em-ployee training and development, a newly created

position. Curtin, who was previously an associateprofessor at the United States Merchant MarineAcademy, formed a productive working partner-ship with Baker and Olson.

BBS, for its role, had been fostering a sharedvision, and was using tools such as near miss sharingand risk assessment to deliver organization-wideexperiential learning. It was also leveraging lead-ership, through increased communication, trust,and engagement. “One interesting thing BBS didfrom the get-go,” Curtin says, “was to clarify theroles of information, knowledge, and understand-ing in safe behaviors. For example, if you reportthe facts of a near miss, that’s information; if youdraw conclusions and learn principles from thosefacts, that’s knowledge; if you grasp those princi-ples deeply enough to adaptively apply them topreventing future incidents, that’s understand-ing.” In promoting the mastery of such fundament-als, BBS was in fact providing ongoing trainingand education, within its specialized scope of re-inforcing safe behaviors and teaching boots-on-deck behavioral science.

A team of Moran executives and managers de-cided that the next step would be to consolidate andstreamline all the company’s training and educationplatforms. In the process, they would create uniformcertification standards for new seagoing hires, andfurther engrain best practices for all ranks. Not co-incidentally, they reckoned that if they efficientlyreengineered flows of information, knowledge,and communication, Moran could reap a by-prod-uct: it would be greasing the wheels of motivationand understanding.

II. “Safety University ”

“We determined that one of the best ways to man-age the challenge would be to get out in front of it— to give new seagoing hires an immersive, inten-sive introduction to Moran’s practices and culture,starting on their first day,” Baker says. Ultimately,

The Journey ContinuesIn Moran’s New Training Programs, Boots, Books, and Technology Redouble a Shared Vision of Safety

Opposite page: Molly Divins, a Moran outport engi-neer and visiting lecturer at The Moran New-HireTraining Course, teaches engine room knowledge.

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Curtin designed a unified, standardized platformof training, education, and assessment. He namedit the Moran Center for Learning, or MCL.

The MCL is an interactive intranet site thatteaches Moran’s core safety policies, practices, andknowledge. Joe Baviello, Moran’s director of infor-mation systems, dovetailed the beefing up of wire-less connectivity on the company’s tugs with therollout of the MCL, thereby enabling studentsto learn during on board downtime as well as atport facilities. The site’s user interface is custom-ized for individuals; each new employee who logson is greeted with a slate of courses and assess-ments designed expressly for his or her job andvessel, accompanied by fully personalized progress-tracking functions. All students receive printed

books as well, which they use in conjunction withonline coursework.

Curtin, a warmly collegial communicator, saysthat “knowledge, understanding, and skill profi-ciency are traditionally considered the backboneof maritime training, and they’re equally definitivein safety training. That’s why the MCL includes anassessment component.” The assessments rangefrom concise quizzes to extensive simulator-driven

Above: The MCL enables online, interactive learn-ing on office desktops, aboard tugs, or anywhere aWIFI connection is available.

Opposite page: Trainees practice floatsuit maneu-vering and resting positions.

evaluations conducted at the MITAGS NavigationSkills Assessment Program (NSAP), an outside con-tractor. The NSAP evaluates mariners’ knowledgeand abilities in watch standing, rules of the road,situational awareness, human interaction, and otherkey navigation fundamentals, and is required as arefresher at five-year intervals.

To expedite and enhance understanding, Mor-an’s training programs use a well-balanced mix oftexts, lectures, visual aids, live demonstrations, andhands-on exercises. “Blended learning,” Kelly callsit. In addition, the programs cross-functionallyoverlap one another, creating synergies that ex-pand learning opportunities. The MCL, for exam-ple, assists Moran’s BBS program by aggregatingand circulating lessons learned from near miss andincident reports filed throughout the fleet. In stillanother BBS extension, senior managers are usingthe MCL to facilitate reflective learning discussionswith vessel crews in each Moran port. The discus-sions are themselves a tool, primarily for reducingand eliminating workplace hazards.

BBS is not the only key program to benefit fromsuch synergies. A course that will teach crews how toenter data in Moran’s FleetChekTM ComputerizedMaintenance Management System (CMMS), forinstance, is currently in the development stage.(FleetChek automatically generates alerts triggeredby its maintenance report database and automatedcomputer-to-computer monitoring.) The brainchildof Moran fleet maintenance manager Joe Regan,Moran’s customized CMMS is instrumental in keep-ing the company’s sailors and customers safe.

To compound the effectiveness of these vari-

ous methods and measures, Moran developedguidance and resources for instructors as well.Captains, for example, get courses and workbooksin optimization techniques for on board trainingand assessment.

In short, the MCL’s range of subject matter isdecidedly well-rounded. It includes not only vesseloperations skills, but also social responsibility, lead-ership, environmental responsibility — even inter-net and e-mail security. For those seeking careeradvancement, it offers courses designed to facilitateadvancement through the ranks. “We designed theMCL to be a learning resource for all of Moran’smariners and shoreside staff,” Curtin says.

The MCL also posts online announcements,provides e-mail links for questions and comments,and e-mails course requirement alerts and othertimely information to students. “It’s designed tohelp people remember to do things — it preemptsforgetfulness by sending alerts, which are triggeredby algorithms reacting to things like expirationdates,” Curtin says.

Feedback from employees regarding the MCLhas largely been positive. Gordon Strother, a mateat Moran Jacksonville, said, “If you have any ques-tions about specific safety standards, a quick videomay help clear up any confusion. [The MCL’s] on-line videos make [it] very easy to use and accessi-ble.” Gregory Zeligman, the operations managerat Moran Miami, said, “MCL has advanced ourtraining culture by leaps and bounds. We no long-er deal with lost DVDs, lost paperwork, or havingto take the television away from the rest of the crewin order for one person to complete their training.”

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Larry Jackson, a deckhand on the Capt. Jimmy T.Moran, told Zeligman that the MCL’s streamlineddelivery of information makes it more interesting,engaging, and relevant, and that he likes the senseof achievement that comes with completing thequizzes after each section.

III. At the Core of Safety, a Corps of Safety

The Moran New-Hire Training Course — common-ly referred to as “boot camp” — is an exhaustivelycomprehensive foundation-level training course,comprising classroom instruction, book learning,and rigorous hands-on training. Conducted at Mor-an ports that have training classrooms, it also usesoff-site contracted facilities, such as a fire school

and a swimming pool. It is designed to travel forthe convenience of trainees who travel to take thecourse, Curtin says, and has recently been conduc-ted virtually in an adapted form as well.

The New-Hire Training Course entails five fulldays of classes, live demonstrations, and learn-by-doing exercises. Attendance is mandatory for allnew seagoing hires. At boot camp, the new hiresare treated as trainees; they must successfully com-plete the course as a condition for completing Mor-an’s New-Hire Program. Attendees span the fullrange of tug personnel. On a typical day in Novem-ber 2017, the students included deckhands, a mate,an engineer, a facilities assistant, and an operationsmanager. Some were from Norfolk; others hadtraveled from their home ports of New Orleans,Baltimore, Savannah, Jacksonville, Port Arthur,and Philadelphia.

On paper, the boot camp curriculum fills anearly three-inch-thick loose-leaf binder. The con-tent of the course’s 21 learning modules rangesencyclopedically over safety’s multipronged, over-lapping dimensions: operational, mechanical, pro-cedural, social, environmental, corporate, boththeory and practice. It gets “way down in the weeds,”covering everything from what could happen toengine parts to what should happen to paper cups.Each course module explains fundamentals andthen delves into granular detail, including relevantbackground or collateral knowledge. The firefight-ing module, for example, includes a section on the chemistry of fire. Its explanations of how firesignite, burn, and spread don’t stint on scientificterminology and concepts, yet are neatly interwov-

en with simpler presentations of foregrounded top-ics, such as the ways fires can start aboard vessels.

The boot camp prepares new hires for workon Moran vessels on several key levels, Curtin says.It drills in policies and procedures, illuminates theintertwining of Moran’s SMS and BBS programthroughout its operations and culture, and instillsa solid foundation of safety and seagoing best prac-tices. Instructors give quizzes and tests to assesseach student’s progress. The course’s learn-by-do-

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Above left: Deploying a capsule-stored, 50-personinflatable life raft; at right, the raft, unpacked andsemi-inflated.

Opposite page, top and bottom: Learning how todeploy and board a small life raft.

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ing segments demand vigorous, sometimes intensephysical exertion, mental concentration, and team-work. All the lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on exercises are designed to microcosmically evokeor simulate real situations stemming from day-to-day vessel operations. Students learn firefighting,for instance, at a real fire school, where they suitup in firefighting gear (including a self-containedbreathing apparatus) and fight actual fires. To sim-

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Opposite page, top: Line handling practice is es-sential, even if it’s “not your first time at the rodeo.”

Opposite page, bottom: Hose handling is initiallytaught in street clothes.

Above: Rescue training is conducted in full fire-fighting gear, with a lifelike dummy standing in for a victim.

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ulate a vessel fire, instructors create a control-led blaze in a set of containers — the kind foundon a container ship — which the students thenextinguish.

Each day begins with a communal breakfast,after which students board vans for transport toclassrooms or training sites. John Snyder, a Tow-Line photojournalist who audited two days of bootcamp classes for the magazine, reported a highlyenergized level of engagement among the students.“In classroom discussions, students were eager andanimated,” he says, “and they asked smart ques-

tions. People looked sharp in the hands-on trainingexercises, too. They clearly appreciated the cultureand the stakes — you could see that they were all-in,” Snyder says.

Moreover, the students aren’t the only ones learn-ing. As they teach, Moran’s instructors probe stu-dents to gauge the effectiveness of the company’sblended learning components, cultural influences,and systems at its various ports. The instructorsare in turn debriefed by managers with Moran’sQuality, Health, Safety, Security & EnvironmentalGroup, with the goal of identifying opportunitiesfor improvement in the program’s methodologyand curriculum.

Polled informally about their boot camp ex-perience, students had some good things to say.Hollister Poole, a mate on the Payton Grace Moranin Miami, said, “My favorite part of the boot campwas the practical side of the class — the live burn,using survival suits in the pool, and line handlingpractice. The class is a great platform for new hires;

it prepares them with the ‘Moran way’ of doingthings, and helps create a safer culture.” Jesse Pusheé,a deckhand at Moran Wilmington, said, “My ex-perience on the water prior to Moran was prima-rily on fishing and sailing vessels. I’d held a 50 GTMasters, and was familiar with sections of the course,but hadn’t been accustomed to many of the differ-ent techniques and situations commonly encoun-tered on our tugs. The expertise and experience ofthe guest speakers and instructors made the mate-rial easy to comprehend. [And the] survival train-ing and firefighting exercises really illustrated

Moran’s commitment to safety… The course alsoprovided students with a comprehensive and fun-damental knowledge base on which to build therest of their careers.”

IV. Sharing the Vision (Living the Culture)

“What most defines our safety culture,” Baker says,“is its shared vision — your shipmates exercise thesame keen vigilance, team focus, and knowledge asyou do, and you have each other’s backs. It’s a deep-ly ingrained ethic, forged in training and continu-ously honed by professional practice. It works bestwhen you, the guy working next to you, the womanworking next to him, and every individual on downthe line, have all been grounded in the same know-ledge, understanding, and behavioral awareness.”

Ted Tregurtha, Moran’s president, agrees. “Ifthere’s a big lesson in safety that’s come out of thelast thirty years,” he says, “it’s that you can’t main-tain it with systems alone. When the compliancebecomes rote, it starts to falter — people fall throughthe cracks. But if you instill a shared vision through‘cradle-to-grave’ training, education, and programslike BBS, then you create a vital network of strongindividuals. You get a system supported by a cul-ture. That’s a more powerful and dynamic forcefor safety.” I

Opposite page: Trainees extinguish a containerfire. Outside of the military, live simulations rarelyget more real than this.

Above: A brief time out for a class picture. KellyCurtin is at the far left.

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Operations

In 2016, Moran’s wellness program began offeringhealth coaching to employees at participating lo-cations, at no cost to employees. Moran Philadel-phia was the pilot port for the program in 2015–16,and it has since been adopted by Moran Balti-more, Moran Charleston, Moran Jacksonville,Moran Norfolk, Moran Savannah, Moran Port Ar-thur/Beaumont, and Moran’s headquarters in NewCanaan, Connecticut. Participation is voluntary,both for Moran’s locations and for individualemployees. On-site coaching is conducted in bothgroup settings and confidential one-on-one sessionsand is available on an ongoing basis. (To accom-modate the dynamics of crew scheduling, MoranPort Arthur/Beaumont and Moran Savannah haveelected to offer a telephonic health coaching pro-gram, enabling their employees to “meet” with acoach telephonically.)

All of Moran’s coaches are independent con-sultants who are certified in health and wellnesscoaching and/or an allied healthcare field by arecognized body of professional oversight. All holdundergraduate or advanced degrees in either sci-ence, education, a healthcare profession, or multi-ple disciplines. The coaches are coordinated byAlyssa Knapp, who is also an independent con-tractor for Moran.

“Coaches are selected not only for their skills,experience, and ability to relate to people, but alsoon the basis of whether their experience and per-sonality are well-suited for working with marine andshore-based employees within Moran’s culture,”Kathy Solomon, Moran’s director of human re-sources, said. “The coaching process has to alignwith the needs of a port, and one of our mainchallenges has been to find coaches with the will-ingness and flexibility to accommodate mariners’work schedules.”

Serving at the pleasure of the ports and theiremployees, the coaches share some definitive pro-fessional traits. While their job is to promote healthby helping clients proactively apply medico-sci-entific wisdom in daily life, the best practitionersleaven their advice with practical common senseand insightful people skills. In describing the workof Ellen Silbergeld, for instance, who coaches forMoran Philadelphia, division vice president andgeneral manager Nathan Hauser said, “We attrib-ute Ellen’s success with our group to her approachand her personality.” Silbergeld, he explained, doesnot preach, and advises without bias. “As the pilotport for the program, we were very careful — we

wanted to avoid subjecting people to overhyped,unsubstantiated approaches,” he said, citing as ex-amples the fetishizing of foods like granola andkale, ultra-high-intensity workouts (not for every-one), and experts who warn a bit too gloomilyagainst the creeping lethality of a sedentary life-style (That chair you’re sitting in? It could be slow-ly killing you!). Silbergeld’s sunny demeanor, tact,well-rounded knowledge, creativity, and knack forsimplifying complex health science explanationshave earned her the trust of the mariners, Hausersaid, and she regularly meets with them on boardthe tugs as well as individually. The sailors appreci-ate her sense of humor, too; she can joke about Host-ess Twinkies without fear of being misconstrued.

All this reflects the health and wellness coachingprofession’s stated mission, which is to partner withclients who want to make self-directed changes thatwill promote long-term health and well-being.

Accordingly, the uses and benefits of coachingcan vary widely from individual to individual, de-pending on an employee’s needs, values, and traits.What is universal, at least in Moran’s case, is thecoaches’ commitment to client self-direction andconfidentiality. Jonathan Archer, Moran Charles-ton’s vice president and general manager, illustrat-ed this point using the example of annual biometricscreenings, which Moran offers free of charge to allemployees working out of locations with healthcoaches. The screenings are voluntary and confi-dential, and their results — stats like Body MassIndex (BMI) and blood pressure — are reviewedonly by the health coach at an employee’s location,who then reviews them with the employee (screen-ings that require blood draws, like those for choles-terol and blood sugar, are not performed by thecoaches). As for self-direction, it means that in arelationship with a coach, the employee makes thedecisions and does the work; the coach’s role is toinform, advise, help identify options, and provideencouragement. So, while health coaches are usu-ally knowledgeable on a broad range of subjects —anything from nutrition, to health risks associatedwith certain substances or lifestyles, to the benefitsand pitfalls of exercise — they do a lot of listening.Often, they will listen more than talk. For anythingthat requires clinical intervention or is otherwise

Moran’s Wellness Program OffersHealth Coaching

Opposite page: A community garden at MoranCharleston. Mariners at some Moran locations havebegun growing some of their own food.

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out of their depth, they will steer clients to doctors,other licensed clinicians, or certified fitness train-ers. Some coaches are multidisciplinary and multi-credentialed; for example, Christina (Tina) Fuchs,New Canaan’s health coach, is a certified wellnessprogram manager, registered dietician, and NewYork State certified dietician/nutritionist.

Moreover, the coaches help fill the much-pub-licized information gap in the American health-care system. Supposing, for example, you want toknow if you can eat two slices of pizza a week andstill successfully manage your moderately highcholesterol. You could discuss the issue with yourdoctor at your next checkup, but what if that’smonths away? A good health coach can provide amore reliably thorough and trustworthy answerthan what you might find on the internet, socialmedia, television, or from speaking with friends.

If your needs are greater — say, for instance,you want to lose some serious weight — a healthcoach can help you avoid wading into a sea of mis-information. Well-meaning but misguided amateurs(read: preachy friends or acquaintances), gimmickymarketers, and snake oil salesmen may have alwayscomplicated the quest for good health, but in to-day’s internet, social media, and mass media envi-ronment, their advice is more widely broadcast thanever. Amid the viral spread of fad diets, popularmyths, advertising for dubious products, and videos

with authoritative-sounding pronouncementsbacked by flimsy science, it can be hard

for weight-loss seekers to distin-guish between helpful, useless,

and downright harmfuladvice.

Health coaches an-swer such dilemmaswith evidence-based factsand balanced perspectivesculled from the work of doctorsand researchers — a kind of health-care brain trust. If the goal is weightloss, this often translates to moderatechanges in diet and lifestyle that arephysiologically safe, psychologicallylow-stress, tailored to an employee’ssituation and values, and geared forpermanence.

Moran Charleston’s coach, StephanieHorton, has become a trusted re-source for that division’s employees,most of whom have spoken withher, Jonathan Archer said.Horton is no stranger to work-ing with sailors; she has donenutritional consulting for theU.S. Navy, and knows how towork around rotating sched-

ules. Like Silbergeld, she has built up a congenialrapport with both marine personnel and shore-side staff. “She has shown immense interest inworking to help improve company morale,health and safety,” Archer said, and her judge-ment-free assistance has been influential, not leastbecause she floats savvy ideas that people canadopt without a revolution. He added that “We’veseen an increase in physical activity that our peo-ple routinely participate in; crews have been playingbasketball and taking walks together as a healthylifestyle measure. They’ve increasingly been makinghealthier choices in other areas too.” Visiting forhalf a day once a week, Horton sometimes rangesbeyond the tugs and cubicles. She goes grub shop-ping with crews, for instance, and turns them on tohealthy foods they are likely to enjoy. Word aroundthe docks is that she has mastered the art of notbeing overbearing. She also contributes time andeffort outside of work. After she got people stokedwith her fund-raising ideas and coaching for thedivision’s annual participation in a Making StridesAgainst Breast Cancer 5K Run/Walk, a recordnumber of employees came out for the event.“[The coaching] has been a builder of both moraleand health,” Archer said.

Moran Jacksonville’s coach, Mark Picard, is alsoideally suited to working with mariners. A 26-yearNavy veteran, he is a retired chief hospital corps-man with seasoned medical experience in a ship-board setting. He holds a degree in health educa-tion. He, too, tempers a scientific perspective withwell-honed insights about people and practicality.“I listen and learn what goals and componentspeople want to deal with, and respond with help-ful facts and information,” he said. “Understand-ing where someone is in a cycle of change isimportant — people go through stages of precon-

templation (such as unawareness orapathy), contemplation, preparation,action, and sometimes, getting backon track after a relapse. Whateverstage they’re in, my job is just to helpthem navigate it at their own paceand on their own terms.” A majori-ty of Jacksonville mariners are onboard with the coaching. Picard hassaid that coaching has helped many

shed pounds (collectively, over 150pounds to date) and many inches offwaistlines. “Sleep improvement driven byphysical activity, mind-awareness, andnutritional means is another popularfocus,” he said. “We’ve also seen reductionsin medication.” Picard received an unex-pected testimonial when he was introducedto some Jaxport dockmasters who happenedto be aboard a tug he was visiting. “They saidthey’d heard about the coaching program’s suc-

cesses, but were unaware that coaching was con-ducted on-site, which they thought was a fantasti-cally beneficial idea,” he said. Tom Craighead,Moran Jacksonville’s vice president and generalmanager, said that “The program has been verywell accepted, and [our] people are motivated.Mark has a way of getting inside your head with-out it feeling like he’s nagging; he just offers waysto get [to your goals]. And it ties in with Behavior-Based Safety as part of employee care.”

Kerri Phillips, who began coaching for MoranNorfolk in November 2018, brings a wealth ofbroad-based experience to the work. In addition to

coaching for Moran, she is the full-time Well-BeingCoordinator for the City of Norfolk, Norfolk Pub-lic Schools, and Norfolk Redevelopment and Hous-ing employees and retirees. In her first few monthsas Moran Norfolk’s consultant, she concentratedon simply getting to know the division’s marinersand staff. “My first job is always to listen,” she said, adding that she does not arbitrarily suggestprograms and activities; rather than lead, she willrespond to mariners’ feedback with accordingly tailored ideas, and she is always accessible to an-swer confidential individual inquiries. Her low-key,relationship-building approach has been payingoff: among Moran Norfolk employees she has ad-vised, several have achieved impressive results withself-directed weight loss, healthy nutrition, or smok-ing reduction programs.

How substantial are the benefits of health coa-ching?

The short answer is that at Moran, they have sofar been solidly substantial, and the long-term out-look is promising. The program’s five-year historyat Moran is too short to support big-picture con-clusions, Solomon said, but the progress is highlyencouraging.

Moreover, in the U.S., health and wellness coa-ching is an emerging specialty whose history is justnow becoming long enough to drive meaningfulpublic health studies of its benefits. Such studiestrack their subjects’ health for a minimum of 20years. But there is good reason for optimism, par-ticularly on Moran’s part. As widely reported inthe business press, numerous studies to date havetracked the results of corporate wellness programsthat did not include coaching. Some of that re-search found that employers who strove to addressthe role of health in worker safety, and to maintaina healthful culture in other ways besides the well-ness program, tended to achieve positive resultsthat they highly valued. Moran falls squarely inthat category, and the coaching has become thefocal point of its wellness program, Solomon said.

Moran employees, for their part, have beenusing the program advantageously. Those who havereaped significant benefits from the coaching —like the employees in Charleston and Jacksonvillewho have lost 30 pounds — would probably agreewith what doctors and researchers sometimes sayabout measuring the benefits of healthy living:that while you can quantify the details, the overalleffect can only be described as priceless. I

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Opposite page: Matt Magwood, a mate on the Coop-er Moran (he is the late Capt. Rodney Magwood’snephew), using a TRX suspension trainer — a con-veniently portable, highly effective workout device.

Above: Ellen Silbergeld with the crew of the Anna-belle Dorothy Moran.

The employee makes thedecisions anddoes the work; the coach’s role is to inform,advise, help

identify options,and provide en-couragement.

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Amid Continued Growth,MER Is Now a Wholly Owned Moran Subsidiary

oran Environmental Re-covery, popul arly knownas MER, has continued toexpand through strategicacquisitions. In 2019, thecompany acquired Glo-bal Diving and Salvage(GDS), headquartered in

Seattle, Washington, with four additional locationsin Alaska and California. The acquisition madeMER one of the largest go-to companies in thecountry for commercial diving, marine construc-tion, and emergency and casualty response, withthe added value of a unique specialty in non-float-ing oil location and recovery.

Shortly before the GDS acquisition, MER ac-quired the 50% interest of its joint venture partner,Fleet Environmental Services, making MER a whol-ly owned subsidiary of Moran Towing Corporation.

An integrated supplier of environmental, indus-trial, and mechanical services, MER now operatesin 57 locations in the U.S. and Canada. With itsunwavering commitment to industry-leading per-formance, the company is well-positioned for growthin a vitally important growth industry.

MER’s progress has indeed been marked by apattern of carefully managed growth that windsback more than 20 years.

To track its origins, one must go back to 1998,when Moran Towing Corporation acquired Tur-ecamo Maritime company. Turecamo, in additionto its tug service business, had formed a small oilspill response company called Turecamo Environ-mental Services (TES), to join in what was at thetime a new focus on oil spill response. Under Mor-an’s new ownership, senior management looked togrow TES. It entered into a joint venture with En-vironmental Recovery Group (ERG), in Jackson-ville, Florida, and MER was born.

Fast forward to 2007: MER had by now estab-lished itself as a premier oil spill response organi-zation and a leading provider of industrial services.Thriving, it grew geographically to cover the entireSoutheast. That year, MER availed itself of an op-portunity to buy out ERG’s interest, and it took onFleet Environmental Services, out of Randolph,Massachusetts, as a new joint venture partner.

MER’s operations now spanned the entire EastCoast, and it built national recognition in the emer-gency response arena.

2010 brought the Deepwater Horizon spill, andboth MER and Moran Towing found themselves atground zero. MER’s participation and contributionto the response efforts during this event cementedits reputation as one of the leading emergency re-sponse organizations in the U.S.

Looking to grow the company further and di-versify from its emergency response and industrialservices roots, MER now focused its expertise onother customers who also valued its performance,capabilities, and culture. To meet this goal, MERembarked on a business strategy that encompassedprudent acquisitions, diversity of business lines, andorganic growth within select markets.

2011 saw a series of acquisitions. The first wasWater Recovery, Inc., a centralized wastewater treat-ment plant in Jacksonville, Florida, that treats non-hazardous wastewater and solidifies sludgeproducts for landfill. MER also acquired Jackson-ville Pollution Control, an environmental servicescompany servicing the pollution response co-op in Jacksonville.

The following year, MER acquired Drummac,Inc., an environmental, cleaning, and mechanicalservices company serving the passenger rail indus-try around the country. Drummac today operatesin 34 locations, managing the Auto Train logisticsin Virginia and Florida and offering auditing,mechanical and refurbishing services to its cus-tomers nationwide.

MER acquired Coastal and Ocean Resources,Inc. (CORI), located in British Columbia, Canada,in 2013. CORI offers coastal mapping and imaging,biologic and geologic research, environmental riskassessment, and oil spill damage assessment (SCAT)services. In addition, it provides scientific supportthroughout the MER organization.

In 2014 and ’15, MER entered the commer-cial diving business with the acquisitions of Eason Diving & Marine Contractors, of Charleston,South Carolina and Wilmington, North Carolina,and Mainstream Commercial Divers, of Murray,Kentucky. MER was now able to offer all of its cus-tomers added value and services, and the diversi-

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fication made it a major participant in the com-mercial diving and marine construction business.

In keeping with its policy of organic growth,MER now devoted a few years to integrating theseacquisitions.

The company resumed its acquisition-drivengrowth strategy in 2018, purchasing Pettit Environ-mental, a traditional environmental services andtransportation company. The Pettit acquisition ex-panded MER’s geographic range, adding resourcecenters in Louisville, Kentucky; Indianapolis, Ind-iana; and Cincinnati, Ohio (MER currently has 14environmental resource centers in North America).

Bill Muller, Moran Towing Corporation’s seniorvice president who oversees MER, said, “With theselatest acquisitions, MER now takes its position as athird major line of business for Moran Towing

Corp., alongside the ship docking/harbor servicesand petroleum/dry bulk transportation services.Brian House, president of Moran EnvironmentalRecovery, is a nationally recognized industry lead-er and we are happy to have had him at the helmduring this growth period and leading our 900-plus highly trained employees through multipleintegrations with positive results for our customersand employee development. Industries and gov-ernment agencies that value performance, safety,reliability, professionalism, and integrity call onMER to meet their needs, knowing that MER willhave the management, capabilities, assets and cul-ture to meet or exceed all their requirements.” I

Below: A GDS diver at work in Florida.

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Ship Call Milestones

Record Breakers and Trendsetters:a SnapshotStarting in Late 2017, Moran Tugs Assisted Some of the Largest Ships Ever to Call at U.S. East Coast Ports

Below: The COSCO Development, a 13,092-TEUNeo-Panamax container ship, called in May 2017at the Port of Virginia. At 1,200 feet in length, the ship was the largest ever to call at the port(the record has since been surpassed by othervessels). Arriving in the predawn hours, theDevelopment was escorted and docked by fourMoran Norfolk tugs.

Page 21, top: The Development is positioned fordocking by the Clayton W. Moran, Maxwell PaulMoran, Jack T. Moran, and Kaye E. Moran. Theport’s container cranes are nearly blocked fromview by the ship’s massive hull.

Page 21, bottom: At sunrise, with the ship’s cargounloaded, the Kaye E. and Maxwell Paul take uppositions for undocking.

Page 22: The Clayton W. and Kaye E. pulling theship away from the dock.

Page 22, inset: A simulated size comparisonbetween the Development and the Norfolk sky-line. The ship is approximately four city blocks in length.

Page 23, top: In January 2018, in Upper New YorkBay, the James D. Moran awaited a messenger linefrom the Gunhilde Maersk, a Neo-Panamax shipheaded for the Port Newark Container Terminal.The Gunhilde, 1,200 feet in length, was at the timeone of the two longest ships ever to traverse New-ark Bay (the other was the CMA CGM T. Roosevelt).

Page 23, bottom: The Gunhilde clears the BayonneBridge. It was escorted and docked by the Jona-than C. Moran, James D. Moran, Kirby Moran, andMiriam Moran. “1200-footers are now normal,”said Capt. Kevin Denning, of Moran New York/New Jersey.

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Approximately 4 city blocks

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Below: The CMA CGM T. Roosevelt, seen here inSavannah in September 2017, was at that time the largest ship ever to call on the U.S. East Coast.The 14,414-TEU Ultra Large Container Vessel is1,200 feet long, with a 157-foot beam. Escortedand docked in Savannah by the Edward J. Moran,Cooper Moran, Laura K. Moran, and Cape Henlo-pen, the ship also called at Charleston and NewYork/New Jersey.

Opposite page, inset: The CMA CGM T. Rooseveltin New York’s Verrazzano Narrows, en route toPort Elizabeth, New Jersey, in September 2017.Minutes after the photo was snapped, the ship be-came the tallest ever to pass under the heightened,newly reopened Bayonne Bridge (the record mayhave since been equalled or surpassed). It wasescorted and docked by the Jonathan C. Moran,JRT Moran, Kirby Moran, and Miriam Moran.

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The James D. Moran dropping off a docking pilotto the ONE Apus in May 2019, just north of NewYork’s Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

Inset: In July 2018, the ONE Stork became the firstof Ocean Network Express’s magenta-coloredNeo-Panamax container ships to call at NewYork/New Jersey. The ship is seen here as it wasescorted through Upper New York Bay by theJames D. Moran, Jonathan C. Moran, and JRTMoran in October 2018.

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On September 12, 2020, the CMA CGM Brazilbecame the largest ship ever to call at a U.S. eastcoast port. Seen here arriving at APM Terminals in Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, the ship is 1,200 feet in length, with a 167-foot beam and a draft of 47.5 feet. The Brazil’s cargo capacity is 15,072 TEUs. Four Moran tugs assisted with docking. I

Benson George Moran andJudy Moran Are Moran’sFirst Tier 4 Tugboats

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The Fleet Moran’s first two EPA Tier 4–compliant tugboats,

the Benson George Moran and Judy Moran, enteredservice in January and October of 2018, respec-tively. Benson George joined the Moran Port Arth-ur/Beaumont fleet; Judy began work for MoranNorfolk. Both vessels are 93-foot, 6,770-hp, FIFI-1-rated escort tugs. Benson George has been assistinglarge tankers, bulkers, and other commercial trafficin and around Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas.Judy is assisting Post-Panamax and Ultra Largecontainer ships, as well as other commercial ves-sels, in and around Hampton Roads and the Portof Virginia.

Environmentally speaking, Tier 4 tugs are am-ong the greenest afloat. The EPA’s Tier 4 regula-tions, phased in completely as of 2015, requiremarine diesel engines on towing vessels to utilizeexhaust after-treatment systems that drasticallyreduce emissions of Nitrogen Oxide (NOX) andparticulate matter (PM). The Benson George’s andJudy Moran’s Caterpillar 3516e engines accomplishthis by employing a Selective Catalytic Reduction(SCR) system, in which an SCR dosing cabinetinjects misted diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), a urea-based solution, into the exhaust. This produces achemical reaction that “scrubs” exhaust emissionsby turning NOX into mostly water vapor and nitro-gen gas, both of which are harmless to the atmos-phere. The system is highly efficient; it does notimpede engine performance, and generally offersimproved fuel efficiency.

Benson George and Judy are nearly identical sis-ter tugs — both are twin-screw tractors drivenby Z-drives (Rolls Royce on the Benson George,Schottel on the Judy) turning 110-inch stainlesssteel propellers. Each tug’s electrical system is pow-ered by twin John Deere 99 kW Tier 4–compliantgenerators. Towing equipment on both vessels in-cludes a Markey DEPC 52 render/recover electrichawser winch forward, and a Markey CEWC 60electric hawser capstan aft. The tugs’ wheelhouses,deckhouses, and crew accommodations are essen-tially identical.

The combination of dramatically heightenedemissions control, increased power, and the class’sexceptionally nimble handling has substantiallyraised the bar of Moran’s escort and docking ca-pabilities. Moreover, the new tugs are the idealchoice for escorting very large and ultra large shipsthrough Norfolk’s occasional windiness and chop,or Port Arthur/Beaumont’s high-traffic river corri-dors. “[Benson George] is the biggest, strongest, mostversatile tug we have [in Port Arthur], Steve Kelly,Moran Port Arthur/Beaumont’s vice president andgeneral manager, told Professional Mariner in July2018. The tug has drawn unsolicited high praisefrom its captains, he said. I

Above: The dosing cabinet on the Judy Moran.

Opposite page, top: The Benson George Moranassisting a tanker in Texas.

Opposite page, bottom: The Judy Moran during seatrials in Maine in July 2018.

Pages 32–33: The engine room on the Judy Moran.

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Books

Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 has received its fair shareof publicity, including in these pages. Much of themedia coverage, however, has dwelled on the ship’simpressive size and luxurious appointments. Forthe full story — especially the design and engineer-ing innovations embodied in the vessel, and its dis-tinction as a transatlantic ocean liner — interestedparties can turn to definitive, lavishly illustratedbooks like John Maxtone-Graham’s 2007 work,Queen Mary 2: The Greatest Ocean Liner of Our Time.

Maxtone-Graham, who died in 2015, was a cel-ebrated authority on ocean liners. He was not thefirst author to go to town on the subject of the QM2;a 2004 book, Queen Mary 2: The Birth of a Legend, isthe work of no fewer than two authors and two pho-tographers, and rivals Maxtone-Graham’s book inits beauty and heft. But Maxtone-Graham was re-nowned for two talents that imbued his portraits ofgreat ocean liners with an unsurpassed vividness:his commanding knowledge encompassed both theships and the lore of transatlantic crossings thatgrew up around them — he wrote approximately30 books — and he had a flair for showmanship.Open his Queen Mary 2 and leaf through its sump-tuously reproduced, jumbo coffee table–sized photos

and illustrations, and you might well feel that it’sthe closest you can come to experiencing the QM2without actually boarding it. Even the currently avail-able 360º video tours can’t quite equal the effect.In the book’s text, Maxtone-Graham plumbs theship’s depths, figuratively and literally. He talks toa diversity of corporate honchos, maritime and de-sign professionals, shipbuilders, officers, and ship-board employees, fixing his attentive ear on every-one from Cunard’s chief executive to the greatlady’s busboys. A keenly engaging personality, heaccords equal respect and due credit to each of hissources. Granted extraordinary access by Cunardand Alstom Chantiers de l’Atlantique at St.-Nazaire,the shipyard that built the QM2, the author pawsthrough drawings and documents, and spends timewith the ship’s architect, engineers and interiordesigners as they work. He sails aboard QM2 re-peatedly, documenting its posh environment indiscerning detail and shifting whimsically betweenmultiple perspectives: he is at once a historian, tourguide, and starry-eyed passenger who has himselfbeen smitten by the romance of a crossing on agreat liner.

Maxtone-Graham’s admiration for the QM2and its heritage runs deep, and at times his enthu-siasm bubbles over into breathless prose. But hisdescriptions of the ship’s hull design and engi-neering are lucid and deeply informed, and theyare essential reading for anyone who wants toknow how advanced the QM2 really is. In one ofthe book’s finest passages, the author describes how the convex conical shape of the ship’s bridgescreen was specially designed to resist the enor-mous blunt force of monster waves. The screenitself is only a second line of defense; in front of iton the foredeck sits a V-shaped breakwater thatdisrupts a wave’s shape, and thus its power, beforeit reaches the screen. A reader hopes that this high-ly engineered architecture, which was tested usingscale models in simulated sea conditions, will neverbe put to the test in real life. (In 2017, the megacruise ship Anthem of the Seas weathered a nearlycomparable real-world battering, emerging withonly superficial damage and no reported seriousinjuries to passengers or crew.)

Re-envisioning a QueenJohn Maxtone-Graham’s Queen Mary 2Delivers Both a Lavishly Illustrated Portrait and a Compelling Story

Queen Mary 2The Greatest Ocean Liner of Our TimeBy John Maxtone-Grahamwith Photographs by Harvey Lloyd

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The year Queen Mary 2 was published, QM2essentially lived up to Maxtone-Graham’s boastful-sounding subtitle. It was the largest and most ex-pensive ocean liner ever built. It has since beensurpassed in length and beam, and equaled inheight, by Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas andseveral other cruise ships. But the QM2’s grand-eur resides in more than its physical dimensions orluxurious accommodations. Writing in the book’sforeword, Micky Arison, the chairman of CarnivalCorporation (Cunard’s parent company), summa-rizes the ship’s chief virtue thusly: “Queen Mary 2is a true ocean liner, able to cross the dauntingNorth Atlantic safely and swiftly year-round…However splendid today’s cruising vessels, none hasthe same reserves of power and reliability.” It wasArison himself, in 1998, who provided the impetusbehind QM2’s creation; with the Queen Elizabeth 2aging and Cunard hoping to lure new generationsof transatlantic passengers away from air travel, hedreamed of creatinga magnificent 21st-century ocean liner.With the eye andear of a master sto-ryteller, Maxtone-Graham traces theQM2’s back storyfrom the first flick-ering of Arison’svision to the ship’striumphant maidenvoyage, illuminat-ing the sheer enor-mity of its designand construction challenges and the elegant inge-nuity that was summoned to meet them. StephenPayne, the naval architect in charge of designingthe QM2, spent two years on preliminary researchalone, diligently exploring what kind of ship couldfeasibly fulfill such an audacious goal. Workingwith his colleague Richard Moore, Payne looked toimprove upon conventional design solutions, andthe team’s experiments and investigations fueledQM2’s monumental splendor and reliability.“[F]ully three quarters of Queen Mary 2’s cabinscome complete with open-air terraces overlookingthe sea,” Maxtone-Graham writes, unleashing oneof many surprising facts that dangle like sweettemptations before prospective passengers. In ad-dition to its more standard amenities, QM2 boastsa planetarium and an adult education center withvisiting faculty from the University of Oxford.Or, you could just play tennis or golf, hit the gym,swim, take a painting class, go to a disco, take in amusical or recital, see a film, or attend a wine tast-ing. If you’re not up for fine dining, you could al-ways swing by the poolside hamburger joint. It doessound like more fun than flying.

Maxtone-Graham, who was born in New Jersey,was an Anglophile’s Anglophile. He admired Eng-land’s real Queens, and could suavely sell you onthe pleasures of taking tea. The book occasionallyreads like a good travelogue, though it understand-ably omits any discussion of what a trip on the QM2costs. (Depending on what level of accommoda-tions you purchase, a transatlantic crossing on theQM2 can be only marginally more expensive thanairfare to London. QM2 also makes shorter inter-coastal and coastal trips, priced within reach formany vacationers.)

Ever the historian, Maxtone-Graham serves upa bonus: several chapters on the history of Cunard.The writing here is captivating; the author unfoldsevocative descriptions of events, people, and vesselswith the narrative momentum of a good novel, in-fusing the story with dry wit and a vibrant under-standing of its human dimensions. It’s a conciseyet luminously detailed account, and Maxtone-

Graham’s ear forquotations is astute.Here, for example,is Samuel Cunard,the company’s foun-der, issuing a blan-ket instruction toCunard’s masters,circa 1843: “Yourship is loaded, takeher; speed is noth-ing, follow your ownroad, deliver hersafe, bring her backsafe — safety is all

that is required.” And here is David MacIver, oneof Cunard’s managing partners during that sameera, opining on the absence of table napkins onCunard ships: “Going to sea is a hardship…If people want to wipe their mouths at a ship’stable, they can use their pocket handkerchief.”The glory years, however, would soon arrive.Maxtone-Graham takes us through the golden ageof ocean liner travel, during which Cunard’s supre-macy was firmly established by now-legendary shipsand voyages.

The book’s historical photographs fascinate,and Harvey Lloyd’s striking photographs of theQM2 function as both visual aids and inspira-tional images. Lloyd’s pictures are a potent remind-er that for all its power as a modern symbol oftechnological progress, the QM2 is in some ways a stunning example of timeless craftsmanship —something that was planned and built unhurr-iedly and meticulously, with an uncompromising dedication to quality and safety. As Maxtone-Gra-ham ably points out, that commitment informedSamuel Cunard’s vision from the start. Long may itinspire us. I

The History Pages

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Moran occasionally receives gifts of historical pho-tographs for our archives. The images come fromcurrent or former Moran employees, their families,and our friends in the maritime industry and thelarger world.

The gifts range from one or two photos to smallcollections, and they sometimes include rare histor-ical gems. That was the case in February 2020, whenBobby Grandone — the son of the late DannyGrandone, a retired Moran dispatcher who diedin January 2019 — gifted TowLine with a trove ofmore than 40 digitized photos from his family’scollection. [A tribute to Danny appears on page 42 ofthis issue.] The gift included a photograph so rarethat its appearance is exciting news.

It is the photo above. Taken sometime between1941 and 1945, it depicts a Moran steam tug de-parting the Battery in New York City, in front of17 Battery Place — the Whitehall Building, whichhoused Moran’s headquarters at the time. It is hardto say how many still photos of Moran steam tugsexist; between 2010 and the present, TowLine’s edi-tors have seen only four that were technically andartistically suitable for reproduction. (There areprobably more; these things have a way of flyingbelow the radar and resurfacing unexpectedly.)

The Grandone gift also includes digital photosof pages from the 1945 Moran Dispatcher’s Hand-book, telegrams sent to Danny Grandone’s bache-lor party, and numerous Moran tugs, crews, mem-bers of employees’ families, and customer vessels.Some additional images from the group appearon the page at right.

The editors extend our sincere gratitude to themembers of the Grandone family for their thought-ful generosity. I

Above: An unidentified Moran steam tug leavingthe Battery in New York City, circa 1943.

Opposite page, top left: The Marit Maersk, a freight-er, being assisted by a Moran tug (date unknown).

Opposite page, top right: A page from the 1945 edition of the Moran Dispatcher’s Handbook.

Opposite page, center: The SS United States beingdocked by Moran tugs in New York Harbor afterarriving from its maiden voyage in 1952.

Opposite page, bottom: Aristotle Onassis’s yachtChristina getting an escort from a Moran tug inNew York Harbor (date unknown).

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Milestones

Clayton W. Moran and Maxwell Paul MoranTwo identical, 93-foot tractor tugs, the Clayton W.Moran and Maxwell Paul Moran, were christenedin a dual ceremony on July 8, 2017 at the Water-side Marina in Norfolk, Virginia. Both tugs werebuilt by Washburn & Doughty Associates, in EastBoothbay, Maine, and were launched in 2017. Bothare 6,000-hp vessels.

In addition to celebrating the tugs and honor-ing their namesakes, the ceremony underscored thelongtime friendship between the Barker and Tre-gurtha families, which stemmed from a decades-long friendship and business partnership betweenPaul R.Tregurtha and James R. (Jim) Barker. Withfamily members and friends of both clans in atten-dance, the event joyfully showcased for the youngergenerations among the guests the fruits of friend-ship, hard work, integrity, and dedication to a fam-ily business.

Clayton W. Moran is named for Clayton W. Barker,the grandson of James R. and Kaye Barker. Clayton,who goes by “Clay,” is a graduate of Hobart Coll-ege, where he earned a degree in media studies.He currently works in the social media departmentof Seastreak, a sister company of Moran.

Clay met the tug’s sponsor, Mimi Refojo, dur-ing his freshman year at Hobart. Mimi performedthe christening of the Clayton W.

Maxwell Paul Moran is named for Maxwell PaulChild, a son of David and Tracy Child, and grand-son of Lee and Paul Tregurtha. Maxwell’s siblingsHaley, Benson, Dennis, and Kirby joined him atthe christening.

Maxwell, who goes by “Max,” attends CornellUniversity. He was awarded Sigma Chi fraternity’sOutstanding New Member award for 2016-17by the Cornell University Fraternity and SororityCommunity.

Max’s younger sister, Kirby, sponsored the tugand performed the traditional champagne chris-tening with swiftly efficient aplomb.

Guests and honorees then proceeded to thenearby Town Point Club for a celebratory lunch-eon, where speeches by Paul Tregurtha and JimBarker were capped with hearty toasts. Both Mr. Tregurtha and Mr. Barker reflected on how they have benefitted from strong family ties. After lunch, guests and honorees were treated to rides aboard the new tugs. The festivities went on until evening,concluding with a casual dinner at the Vintage Kit-chen at Dominion Tower.

Both the Clayton W. and the Maxwell Paul arenow serving in the Moran Norfolk fleet.

Benson George Moran The Benson George Moran was launched at the Wash-burn & Doughty Associates shipyard on August 16,2017. A 93-foot Z-drive tractor, it is Moran’s firstTier 4–compliant tugboat. [A story with technicaldetails appears on page 30 of this issue.]

Judy Moran Moran’s newest escort tug, the 93-foot, 6,770-hpJudy Moran, was christened on October 13, 2018 ina ceremony at Pier 5 in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.Built by Washburn & Doughty Associates, the Tier 4tug was launched in July 2018 at the yard’s EastBoothbay Harbor facility.

Judy Moran is named for the wife of Moransenior vice president Ned Moran, and was chris-tened by the couple’s oldest granddaughter, FrancesLeahy. The celebration was a grand family affair,with three generations of Morans in attendance,including Judy and Ned’s son, daughters, andgrandchildren. The guest of honor beamed as hergranddaughter Franny shattered the traditional“bottle of bubbly” over the tug’s gunwale with asingle decisive swing.

The ceremony was followed by a family lunch-eon. In a nod to the season, Judy Moran presentedeach of her grandchildren with a hand-paintedpumpkin. But the day’s most thrilling treat wasstill to come: after lunch, the revelers boarded the new tug for an onboard tour of Baltimore Harbor. The vessel gleamed, inside and out, as itquietly motored through calm waters under anovercast sky.

Judy Moran is Moran’s second Tier 4 tractor tug.She served in the Moran Norfolk fleet in Virginiabefore commencing her long-term assignment in Freeport, Texas, in 2019. [Story on page 30 ofthis issue.]

In 2017–18, Moran Christened FourNew High-Horsepower Escort Tugs

Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Mimi Refojochristening the Clayton W. Moran; Kirby Child chris-tening the Maxwell Paul Moran; Maxwell Paul (Max)Child with his sister Kirby and parents David andTracy; Mimi Refojo and Clayton W. (Clay) Barker;the launch of the Benson George Moran in Maine;Frances (Franny) Leahy christening the JudyMoran, with Judy Moran to her right.

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People

Jim Murray, who helmed Moran’s sales departmentfor more than 20 years, retired in May 2017. “Jimwas the kind of guy you want to spend time with,so it was a bittersweet moment when we wavedgoodbye,” Ted Tregurtha, Moran’s president, said.

In a career marked by integrity, vision, andresults, Jim cultivated and forged customer rela-tionships on four continents, molding Moran’ssmall sales team into a squad of promise-keepingstraight-talkers whose reputations preceded them.

Apart from the occasional awards ceremonyphoto op, he cared little for the limelight. Inter-viewed for this article, he said that “It would be bestto keep it short.”

Such modesty is characteristic of the man, andJim’s approach to sales could perhaps be summedup in four words: he was old-school, a straight shoot-er. He was good at answering customers’ needsnot just out of respect, but because he understoodthem deeply.

Before joining Moran, Jim was a mariner — anMMA graduate with a captain’s license, who forten years sailed on ships for Lykes Lines. He alsoearned shoreside stripes, beginning in Lykes’s lay-out and stowage department and advancing overthe years to port manager of Charleston and thenNorfolk. He left Lykes and joined Turecamo Mari-time prior to its being acquired by Moran. His firstengagement with Moran was as its port managerin Savannah.

At Moran, his knowledge and experience werewedded to an abiding belief in the company’s qual-ity and integrity. His chief sales tool, he said, wasmutual trust, which also extended to his co-workerand supplier relationships. (Full disclosure: the au-thor of this article worked for Jim as a consultantfor 15 years.)

Jim’s tenure at Moran coincided with a periodof sustained growth and modernization. Joining thecompany in 1996, he led Moran’s sales departmentfrom the threshold of desktop computerizationthrough its digital transformation. Over the courseof the next two decades, his sales leadership helpedfuel Moran’s transition to more powerful tugs.The Moran fleet grew from including one tractortug to operating more than 42, and from havingno ATBs to operating 10.

His favorite part of the job was his associationswith customers and co-workers, some of which grewfrom congenial business relationships into person-al friendships, he said. He enjoyed being able towork closely with some of Moran’s top leadership,

personified by Ted and Paul Tregurtha (the latteris Moran’s CEO), and Ned Moran, the company’ssenior vice president in charge of harbor opera-tions. Sharing reflections for this article, Ted andPaul summed up Jim’s essence with the observa-tion that “his honest, transparent, sometimes bluntapproach to his life and job appealed to us, andundoubtedly to Moran’s customers.”

“We will both always be grateful for the contri-bution he has made to the culture of Moran and forthe contribution he has made to our lives,” Ted said.“We hate to say goodbye, but we wish him well inhis retirement, and know that he will enjoy pilot-ing his trusty Sunfish around the Maine lakes.”

Jim commented that he is deeply grateful toAislinn Pitchford, Moran’s assistant vice presidentof sales, for her invaluable expertise and camarad-erie. He truly enjoyed working for Moran he said,adding that “Moran’s vision for the long term and insistence on integrity in all matters made thejob easy and more rewarding. It probably soundsclichéd, but if I had to sum it all up in a singlecomment, I would just say it was an honor to workfor Moran.”

Jim and his wife Debra now reside in Eastport,Maine, and have successfully survived their first fullMaine winter. “We understand that one or two tripssouth helped them endure it,” Ted Tregurtha said,“but Jim and Debra are veteran ‘Maineiacs,’ andwe have no doubt that as the years pass they willsettle in for the long run.”

“Jim’s presence will be missed by all of his greatfriends at Moran and by our customers,” Ted said.“We are all lucky to have known him,” Paul added. I

JimMurray, Moran’s Longtime Vice President of Sales, Retires

Above: Jim Murray at the Payton Grace Moranchristening in Maine in 2015.

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We are sad to report that Greg McGinty, a valuedmember of the Moran corporate family, passedaway on September 2, 2018, at age 71. Greg was a retired executive vice president of Moran whobrought out the best in us all with his good humor,enjoyment of life, and positive outlook.

Greg came to Moran in 1998 when the com-pany acquired Turecamo Maritime, where he waspresident and CEO. He had joined Turecamo whenit was a small, family-run business with opera-tions based solely in New York. During Turecamo’slater period of expansion, Greg helped the com-pany make multiple acquisitions that extendedits operations into Savannah, Georgia; Charles-ton, South Carolina; and Philadelphia, Pennsyl-vania. He then became a critical force at Moranfor 10 years, contributing his extensive maritimemanagement expertise at the company’s corpo-rate headquarters in New Canaan, Connecticutand facilitating the merger of the two companys’cultures and processes.

“He was smart as a whip and had a wonder-ful sense of humor,” Greg’s brother-in-law PeterNistad said. Mr. Nistad, who is Turecamo’s retiredchairman, was close to Greg professionally as wellas personally. “He was a great [storyteller], in theIrish tradition, and also loved to hear a good tale,”Mr. Nistad said, adding that “he was the best golferI’ve ever known.” Greg in fact never missed a Mor-an golf tournament, and was a sought-after golfpartner due to both his outgoing personality andhis highly admired 7 or 8 handicap.

During his time at both Turecamo and Moran,Greg brought his zest for life and enthusiasm forfun to the job every day. He applied his enjoymentof fun to the manner in which he built customerrelationships…business meetings were not onlyabout business but also about having a good time,getting to know people and enjoying their com-pany. If a business event could be tied into a tastymeal, round of golf, fishing trip, or a ski trip, somuch the better.

But Greg also had a serious side that balancedhis lighthearted nature. The safety of his peopleand equipment was always his top priority, andin 1996 Greg had the opportunity to share his passion for safety with the industry by serving asthe chairman of American Waterways Operators(AWO). Under Greg’s leadership, AWO initiated a program known as the Responsible Carrier Pro-gram. This program was the start of AWO’s andthe industry’s long journey towards improving

vessel and employee safety through the use of aSafety Management System.

Gregory Francis McGinty was born on July 11,1947, in NewYork, New York. A graduate of BostonCollege, he subsequently earned a master’s degreefrom the University of Pennsylvania. In his leisuretime he was devoted to his family and was an avidoutdoorsman, enjoying skiing, hiking, fly fishingand golf. He loved spending time at his house on Equinox Mountain in Vermont, but wouldn’t hesitate to make a trip out west to do some seriousfly fishing.

He is survived by his loving family: his wife,Joan McGinty (nee Turecamo), of Briarcliff Man-or, New York; his sons, Michael (Kristen) and Bren-dan (Fawn), both of Chappaqua, New York; hisbrothers Mark (Liz), Sean (Susan), and William(Nina); and a sister, Constance (Cliff) Tallman. He was the cherished grandfather of James, Ash-ley, Timothy, Katherine and Declan. I

Gregory (Greg) McGinty, 1947–2018:An Appreciation

Above: Greg McGinty in 2016

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In Memoriam: Captain Rodney Magwood

Captain Rodney Magwood, a highly regarded Sav-annah docking pilot and admired Moran employ-ee, passed away on August 22, 2018. He was 61.

Capt. Magwood, who usually went by “Rodney”,was also known to colleagues and friends in theport of Savannah by the affectionate nickname“Rock”. An imposingly large man — he stood sixfeet three and weighed 325 pounds — he was well-known for combining sharply honed marine skillswith a sunny professional demeanor.

Rodney got his start in the industry as a deck-hand for Atlantic Towing, before it was acquiredby Turecamo, and, later, by Moran. He stayed withthe company his entire career, rising through theranks to become a captain and going on to be-come the first African-American docking pilot inthe Port of Savannah.

Like many a successful Moran docking pilot,he was not only knowledgeable in the art and sci-ence of ship docking, but was also a gifted commu-nicator. Readers of PopularMechanics got a glimpseof Rodney in action when, in a February 2018 arti-cle, the magazine profiled him and Captain DavidMissroon at work as the Edward J. Moran dockedan LNG tanker, the Methane Princess. Missroon wasin the tug’s wheelhouse, Rodney on the tanker’sbridge. “As Magwood guides the behemoth in, adance based on years of experience and intuitiveknowledge between docking pilot and tugs com-mences,” the magazine’s reporter wrote. To under-score the point, he quoted several of Rodney’scommands to the tug, including: “Edward, takeme on down again…” and “Thirty percent on theDog. Easy on the stern tugs, easy…”

Such subtle mastery drew on Rodney’s deep ex-perience as a tug captain. In a eulogy on Facebook

following his death, hisco-worker Eve Hunterwrote that “Rodneycould operate any ofthe tugs in the MoranSavannah fleet, andwhen Moran Savannahgot their first tractortug, the Diane Moran,[he] was one of thefirst to learn the newtechnology.”He was ge-nerous with his knowl-edge, and taught ormentored many of theSavannah tug opera-

tors Moran employs today, Ms. Hunter said.Al Cook, Moran Savannah’s vice president and

general manager, said, “I had the honor of work-ing with Captain Magwood for a little over a yearafter transferring to Savannah. He was a southern

gentleman who took the time to share local knowl-edge and sage advice with a new GM. Rock’s out-going personality and contagious sense of humorwill be missed by all of his co-workers, friends andfamily. His well-earned reputation as a true pro-fessional mariner within Moran and the Savannahmaritime community will not be forgotten.”

Rodney Magwood was born on January 31,1957,in Savannah, Georgia. After graduating from Wind-sor Forest High School in Savannah, he decided tofollow in his father’s footsteps and become a mari-

ner. Later, as amarried father ofthree, he remain-ed steadfastly de-voted to family lifeand child rearingeven as he juggled“the crazy hoursthat come withthe tug life,” Ms.Hunter said. (Rod-ney’s son Reginaldis now a SavannahRiver Pilot; hisson Rodney Jr.

works as a longshoreman, and his daughter, Rhon-da, works for the Savannah Morning News.)

He was athletically inclined, and according toMs. Hunter, could drive a golf ball 300 yards. Rod-ney also loved fishing and spending time with hisdogs, Pebbles and Bam Bam. His large stature be-lied a gentle nature, Ms. Hunter said, and he hada deep but soft voice that would sometimes breakout in a devilishly infectious laugh.

In Memoriam: Danny Grandone

Danny Grandone, who died on January 19, 2019,at the age of 93, was 18 years old and fresh out ofhigh school when he started working for MoranTowing & Transportation Co. in 1943. His first jobwas as a typist. He could do 200 words a minute,his son Bobby said, and he quickly got noticed:Edmond Moran, who was both the company’s pre-sident and a retired Rear Admiral in the UnitedStates Navy, thought that the young man showedcommendable skills, well-rounded intelligence,and a can-do spirit. This was at the WhitehallBuilding, Moran’s first high-rise headquarters inNew York City.

Moran put Danny on a fast track. The com-pany trained him to decode Navy signals in theVerrazzano Narrows, and when he aced that role,it trained him as a dispatcher. So began a distin-guished 39-year career in which Moran would beDanny’s sole employer.

Danny was a people person, a guy who tem-pered his sharp-witted abilities and instincts with a

43

kind and forgiving nature, Bobby said. He quicklyacquired a reputation for effective communication,thorough preparation, easygoing charm and a goodsense of humor, all of which made him ideally suit-ed for the job of dispatcher.

In 1977, the New York Times sent a reporter todo a short feature story on Moran’s operations in and around New York. Danny gave the fellow abrief oral summary of a dispatcher’s responsibili-ties, making sure to include dicey challenges likedead ships and other emergency response situa-tions. Then, Danny said this: “You can’t conceive ofhow people who do this love this work.” That com-ment may sound like a public relations bonanza,but coming from Danny it was plainspoken truth.Many a tugboat dispatcher, Danny included, couldback that observation with edge-of-your-seat talesfrom the trenches. Moreover, Danny was admiredas an all-around stand-up guy, a quality that reson-ated with people at work and outside of it. He oncestarred in a television commercial for Buick, inwhich he drove a Buick (his, if you believe the ad)to a dock, parked it in front of the TeresaMoran, andearnestly appraised the value of the car’s reliabili-ty in his work. In the spot’s final shot, Danny is seenstanding on the Teresa’s bridge as the tug pulls awayto answer an emergency call. (The video can beviewed online at https://vimeo.com/384543101)

Danny saved a trove of work-related docu-ments, photographs, and other memorabilia overthe years, which his family now cherishes. The ma-terials, brought vividly to life by his family’s memories, paint a moving picture of top-flight teamwork bolstered by close camaraderie. They in-clude witty, slyly barbed telegrams that Danny re-ceived at his bachelor party the year he and hiswife Norma married. Edmond Moran wished himhappiness and sent his regrets at not being ableto attend. Some of Danny’s co-workers, as well ascolleagues at other companies, good-naturedly“roasted” him in their messages. “We are grievedbeyond expression to hear of your coming mar-riage, and share in the loss of your single bliss,”wrote the dispatchers at Seaboard Shipping Corp-oration, with mock solemnity befitting the occasion.

The keepsakes convey the impression that as agroup, Moran’s employees at the Whitehall Build-ing were especially comfortable with one another, which must have offset the pressures of the job. Danny, for his part, had numerous lifelong profes-

sional friendships, including close ones withGrover Sanschagrin (another Moraner widely ad-mired for his cool-headed skill and congeniality)and Whitey Mattsson, an esteemed Moran tug captain. Danny was popular with everyone fromMoran’s switchboard operators (they, too, sent atelegram) to its mariners, administrative staff, dis-patchers, and executives.

This was a good thing, because pressurized jug-gling was part of the job description. “You have tohave everything in your head,” Danny told theTimes, and he did. By “everything,” he meant notonly vessel locations and geography — which, inDanny’s realm, meant New York Harbor, the Eastand Raritan rivers, Staten Island’s kills, the coastalwaters off New York and Connecticut, and theHudson River as far north as Albany — but alsonautical terrain, ship drafts, weather, tidal pat-terns, terminal capacities, and daily conditions atdozens of piers and terminals.

Danny retired in 1982. Thirty-seven years later,when Bobby Grandone called to inform Moran ofhis father’s passing, the first person he spoke withwas a dispatcher, and the man knew who Dannywas. This is perhaps unsurprising; Danny had men-tored many people, and a lot of frontline wisdomis still attributed to him. The example he set and theknowledge he shared were his professional legacy.They are storied, now as ever. I

Opposite page, left and right: Capt. Rodney Mag-wood, ashore and at work aboard a vessel.

At right, top: Danny Grandone on location at the shoot for his Buick television commercial.Bottom: A telegram from colleagues that Dannyreceived at his bachelor party.

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Personnel News

Milestones

Retirements Captain Jim MurrayMoran’s Vice President of Sales[Story on page 40]

DeathsCaptain Rodney Magwood A Savannah Pilot [Story on page 42]

Mary Corrigan A Retired Moran Administrative AssistantMary Corrigan, who worked as the administrativeassistant to Moran vice president, secretary and gen-eral counsel Alan Marchisotto for 24 years beforeretiring in 2010, died on July 1, 2017. She was 86.

“She was a pleasure to work with and is wellremembered as someone who got things done effi-ciently and correctly,” Mr. Marchisotto said. JudyEnright, a Moran co-worker who knew Mary well,said, “You could set your watch by Mary. She had a routine…and stuck to it.” She also possessed aserene, easygoing charm, Ms. Enright said.

In a brief interview with TowLine regarding herretirement in 2010, Mary said that “Many an ad-ministrative assistant can be counted on to be anoffice authority on spelling and grammar, and tocatch errors before they make it into print.” Sheadded that to be good at the job, you also need tobe a crackerjack organizer and silky-smooth tele-phone personality. “I enjoyed working for Moranvery much,” she said.

“She had an incredible work ethic,” Mr. Mar-chisotto said. “If I say she took a handful of sickdays in the 24 years she was here, that would be ahigh estimate.”

“We all miss her, and talk about her often,”Ms. Enright said.

Silvano Ugrotto A Retired Moran Port EngineerSilvano Ugrotto, a retired port engineer for MoranPhiladelphia, died on May 3, 2018. He had workedfor several marine transportation companies and wasemployed by Moran at the time of his retirement.

Francis J. (Frank) Duffy A Former Editor of TowLine and Moran Director of Public Relations, Photographer, Journalist,and HistorianFrank Duffy, who as Moran’s director of public re-lations from 1984 to 1993 edited TowLine, died on

(Deaths, continued)

April 26, 2020, in East Setau ket, New York. He was90. The cause was Covid-19.

A native New Yorker who was trained as a sta-tionary engineer, Frank retired in midlife from acareer as a supervisor of custodians for the NewYork City Board of Education and began forging a second career as a journalist and photographercovering the maritime industry in New York andNew Jersey. The endeavor proved fruitful; havingsailed in the Merchant Marine as a young man andlater worked for the Port Authority of New Yorkand New Jersey, he knew the beat well.

In reminisces by his friends, family, and col-leagues, and a bio issued by one of his publishers,Frank was revealed to be a man of multifold talentsand admirable energy. By the time he joined Mor-an, he had written news articles and feature storiesfor the New York Times, New York Newsday, and num-erous maritime publications. Starting in 1982, hewrote a regular column on the Port of New Yorkand New Jersey for Steamboat Bill, the journal ofthe Steamship Historical Society of America.

A talented photographer, he shot many of Tow-Line’s pictures himself, and also shot on assignmentfor shipping companies in New York. Among in-dustry insiders his work was storied: at age 70, he was still shooting from a helicopter swoopingthrough New York Harbor, a job that demandedenough mental concentration and physical flexi-bility to rigorously tax a man half that age.

He was deeply committed to maritime causes,a passion that sparked extended career forays asan author, historian, museum administrator, andcivic organizer. In 1986, he co-authored The NewYork Harbor Book with William Miller. He was thesole author of a second book, Always on Station: TheStory of the Sandy Hook Ship Pilots, that was pub-lished in 2008. As executive vice president of theMaritime Industry Museum of SUNY MaritimeCollege in the Bronx, he mounted successful cam-paigns to commemorate New York’s General Slocumdisaster of 1904 by restoring a public monumentand organizing an annual public observance of thetragedy. He eventually donated all of his photo-graphic slides and negatives to the museum, andhis pictures were also included in a gift that Moranmade to the institution.

In 2010, the Steamship Historical Society ofAmerica honored him for “recording and preserv-ing the legacy of ships, New York shipping and theUnited States Merchant Marine.” I

Service Anniversaries

10 Years of ServiceAustin W. BardenStephen M. Bartlett Andrew J. Beatty Schyler Jude Beech Vandiford P. Beech Stephen J. Begin Michael C. Bonsaint Matthew W. Brewster William M. Chittick William A. Diamond Jr. Frank Austin Dimatteo Philip A. Dussor Joshua T. Duym Andrew A. Futch Mark C. Hansen Eric Wayne Hardison Kurt Patrick Hellmann Dwain Danza Hinds David Patrick Ivester Matthew M. Love Erik N. Luce Jesse J. Malmgren Donald S. McCord III Terrence A. McGovern III Mays C. Milner David Ethan Olson Randy Joe Quattro James K. Quinn Christopher Leonard Russo Edward A. Snell James D. SonnierKevin Kelly Stanley Jonathan A. Steinberg Walter T. Stewart Anthony P. Vicari

20 Years of ServiceRobert F. Buchet Vincent J. Ellul Mark Evans Willie J. Gardner Lawrence L. Havlicek Dayvien L. Johnson Darren D. Kerney Daryl J. Louviere Robert Martin Brian E. McDonald William C. Morris Thomas A. Rizzo Kevin M. Walsh Bradley White Gregory W. Williams Sherry M. Williams Dennis L. Yonker

30 Years of ServiceThomas E. Buckley Joaquin Calix Darrel J. ConnerRonald G. Droop Arlon R. Feurtado Paul J. Lewis Edward F. Walker III Edgar W. Williams

40 Years of ServiceJohn F. Campbell Daniel J. Klaben Jr. Wayne S. Posey Michael W. Staszko

c/o Moran Towing Corporation50 Locust AvenueNew Canaan, CT 06840-4737

To request a subscription to TowLine, or to notify us of an address change, please send an e-mail to: towline@morantug.com

Seen and Noted

Moran’s mariners tend to reflexively gravitatetoward precision maneuvers. Above, “Exhibit A,”which was captured on a snowy day in, of allplaces, Savannah, Georgia. We rest our case.