Implementing Our Solutions Platform for Blessy Marine’s with an Expedited Timeline
Blessey Marine Services, Inc., based outside of New Orleans, Louisiana, owns and operates one of the largest inland tank barge and towing vessel fleets in the United States. Its 80 push boats and 160 tank barges service all major petroleum and petro-chemical companies and facilities located along the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway between Corpus Christi, Texas and St. Marks, Florida, throughout the greater Mississippi and Ohio River valleys, and the Southeast United States.
In 2019 after an exhaustive search, Blessey Marine Services, Inc. chose TowWorks as the technology platform for several different departments, including operations, dispatch, compliance, and sales.
Clark Todd, President and Chief Operating Officer for Blessey Marine, states, “Blessey’s business operations are unique; therefore, we took the evaluation of technology solutions very seriously. In the end, the TowWorks’ all-in-one technology solution with its flexible integration architecture addressed our most prominent needs.
In November 2019, Blessey communicated a need to fast-track the TowWorks implementation. TowWorks answered this need by imbedding an on-site team to shadow Blessey’s Dispatch Department.
The TowWorks team facilitated in-depth training of Blessey’s in-house staff, as well as boat crews. In a span of a few weeks, the Blessey team was trained, historical data entered, and 84 boats were rolled-out on the TowWorks system. Clark stated, “We were very pleased with the response from TowWorks to meet our implementation needs. Their customer service has exceeded our expectations.”
TowWorks is Helping their Partners Expand Business
In March 2011, two long-established Ohio River marine operations – Greater Cincinnati Marine and Bray Marine – merged to create Carlisle & Bray Enterprises, LLC, the parent company to C&B Marine, C&B Energy Services, and C&B Repair and Maintenance. These companies provide a full array of marine- and land-based services, as well as having consulting and inspection capabilities.
In 2017, with significant growth achieved and aggressive future growth plans, Carlisle & Bray was in search of an all-inclusive system to automate job billing and handle timekeeping and payroll. Referred by Hunter Marine, C&B looked at TowWorks and felt the team and the product would meet the needs of the ever-evolving enterprise.
Vicky Schottelkotte, Dispatch and Logistics Manager for C&B Marine states, “TowWorks has provided us an all-in-one system that is user-friendly and has reduced our need to double handle information across the board.
It’s assisted with obtaining our vessel COI’s and has cut our time from job close to invoicing dramatically.”
“Working with CBM and learning their business has allowed TowWorks to automate processes that were time-consuming and cumbersome before the implementation. CBM is using TowWorks to grow their business and we couldn’t be more proud to list them as a trusted partner in the marine space,” reports Austin Bugg, TowWorks’s Operations Manager.
Pine Bluff Sand & Gravel Gains a Competitive Advantage by Using the TowWorks Solutions Platform
Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel is a family-owned company that was founded in 1913. PBSGC specializes in marine construction and material production/sales throughout the midsouth, expanding from Southeast Arkansas along rivers and waterways through Louisiana, Kentucky & Tennessee. As a family-owned business, safety and customer support are always top priorities.
In 2015, a trusted partner of PBSGC in the tug and barge market, who ultimately also became a TowWorks customer, suggested PBSGC look at the TowWorks platform. PBSGC was searching for a system that was user-friendly, would furnish real-time information, and produce company specific KPIs. Also, of utmost importance was to find a system that was web-based, secure, and simple enough that employees who were not familiar or comfortable with using a computer system could quickly learn how to input data.
After several demonstrations and onsite visits, PBSGC chose TowWorks as the solution to help streamline and automate their business processes. Brandon Robertson with PBSGC states, “TowWorks was able to furnish a ‘three to four clicks’ solution to our vessel crews.
This allowed our employees who were not accustomed to using a computer the comfort of using the program. For shoreside employees, real-time data, live vessel/barge updates, streamlined invoicing and expensing are key to our daily operations today.”
“Before using TowWorks, Pine Bluff held their sensitive and mission-critical data in a series of spreadsheets and disparate data stores. We are proud of how well PBSCG has adopted the TowWorks technology and used it as a competitive advantage to move their operations forward,” says Austin Bugg, TowWorks’ Operations Manager.
One Client. One Year of Data.
The infographic below is based on actual numbers recorded by one of our clients for the year 2021.
