The crowd, many dressed in colors reflecting the Holiday season, included customers, suppliers, and numerous employees. The pre-dinner cruise, along New York’s Hudson River, took place aboard a vehicle /passenger ferry owned by a McAllister subsidiary Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry, while the dinner itself took place aboard USS Intrepid, a 1943 built aircraft carrier that now serves as a museum and event space.
McAllister’s fleet, based along the US East Coast and spanning ports in Maine down to Florida, with a Puerto Rico presence as well, provides towing, docking, barging, as well as servicing the burgeoning offshore wind sector in New England and mid-Atlantic waters. The company operates more than 60 tugboats, crew boats, and barges hauling containers. Ship assists and in-harbour operations are a big part of McAllister’s business, with 38 of the tugs utilizing highly maneuverable Z-Drive/tractor designs.
The company’s newest equipment has a “Low Emissions Vessel” certification from the ABS, deploying EPA Tier 4 engines. The Isabell McAllister and Gerard McAllister 6,770 horsepower boats, with twin Caterpillar 3516E-H engines and Schottel Z-Drives, are currently under construction at the Washburn & Doughty yard in Maine, completing a series that includes Gerard McAllister serving New York, and the Jane McAllister serving in Virginia. Another vessel with the all-important designation from ABS, Rosemary McAllister, was delivered in 2018 after construction was completed at Eastern Shipbuilding Group (ESG) in Florida. It also serves the ports in Virginia including Norfolk, Hampton Roads and Newport News.
At the event, company Chief Executive Officer Buckley McAllister (known to friends as “Buck”) celebrated the company’s heritage- with its beginnings in 1864 with one sail-powered boat that shuttled around New York Harbour. In his dinner remarks, he praised his entire team, saying: “I really appreciate every member of the McAllister crew who helps us offer unsurpassed service…” Echoing a dominant theme of the evening, he noted that many employees have been with McAllister for multiple generations, and drew thunderous applause when he said that: “It’s really more like a clan than a company…” and that “Our employees feel ownership in our operations.”
Jennifer Carpenter, the CEO of American Waterway Operators (AWO), the trade association representing tug and harbour equipment owners in Washington, DC said, in her remarks: “I extend our hearty congratulations to Buckley and the entire McAllister family”. Unlike others in the sector who have seen varying degrees of ownership from financial investors, McAllister is still in private hands; indeed, AWO’s Carpenter said: “A huge part of what we are celebrating tonight is that McAllister is a family business in every sense of the word.”
Captain Steve Kress, Vice President of Operations, who came aboard the company in the early 1980s, captured the spirit of the evening, telling the dinner audience: “For me, this company is not just a place to come to work- it’s been a home for 40 plus years.” Captain Kress read a proclamation from US Representative Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican whose Congressional district straddles Brooklyn and Staten Island on the New York waterfront, which thanked the company for being a vital part of New York harbour for many years.
