Joe Starck News

The Great Lakes Towing Company (GLT) has hired Salvadore Menoyo for its business development team.Sal has been named Vice President-Special Projects, reporting to Joe Starck, President of GLT. He will be based in Jacksonville, Fla. and use his extensive experience and expertise to identify, develop and manage new business opportunities on the East Coast, including the Gulf and Puerto Rico. In this new role, Menoyo will work with internal and external customers and build relationships with partners and other prospects to bring value and growth to the company.Menoyo…

Sarter Marine Towing Company Inc. announced it has agreed upon definitive terms for the sale of Sarter to The Great Lakes Towing Company.Under the deal, The Great Lakes Towing Company purchased Sarter tugboats Donald J. Sarter and William C. Selvik, as well as all supporting machinery and equipment and most other shoreside assets. The remaining five tugs in Sarter’s fleet will be chartered to the Towing Company under a long-term bareboat charter arrangement. The acquisition closed on March 23, 2022.Great Lakes has retained all Sarter Marine employees and will supplement the business with administrative and financial support to help support and enhance Sarter’s current book of towing business in the region.Last fall…

The Great Lakes Towing Company announced it has purchased The Wm. Plotz Machine & Forge Company.The acquisition, which includes all Plotz Machine’s assets and real estate, increases the services provided by Great Lakes and allows the company to now offer marine and industrial machine shop services to all types of customers, including shipyard new construction and ship repair. The transaction closed on Tuesday, November 30, 2021.Great Lakes said it has retained all employees of…

“…We have built our reputation job by job, boat by boat, and tow by tow, and we intend to continue to do so.”The Great Lakes Towing Company (GLT) and the Great Lakes Shipyard are core businesses within The Great Lakes Group of Companies, based in Cleveland, on the Old River, a shipping channel that runs west from where the Cuyahoga River meets Lake Erie. Company towing operations extend from Buffalo, N.Y. in the east to Duluth, Minn. in the west. Great Lakes Towing owns and operates the largest U.S.-flagged tugboat fleet on the Great Lakes, serving more than 35 ports in all eight U.S.

The Great Lakes Towing Company and Great Lakes Shipyard christened the newly built tugs Pennsylvania and Wisconsin at the company’s Cleveland facilities on Wednesday.“Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it is remarkable that the Towing Company has persevered with the successful completion of these two new tugs, despite the adversity the pandemic brought to bear, not only on us, but the industry, not to mention the country and the entire world. The Towing Company, as always, showed its resilience and its resolve to muscle through these difficult conditions…

American shipyards form an important economic engine, supporting nearly 400,000 jobs, $25.1 billion of labor income and $37.3 billion in gross domestic product (GDP), according to figures from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD).It’s a good thing, then, that U.S. shipyards were deemed essential businesses amid COVID-19 and have remained up and running throughout the pandemic. And it’s even better that most yards have been able to keep their workers employed despite less than stable market conditions…

Great Lakes Towing Company (GLT),  the largest U.S.-flag tugboat company engaged in towing on the Great Lakes, has celebrated its 120th anniversary with the christening of their newest tugboat, the Tug Michigan.The Tug Michigan was christened by vessel sponsor, Carolyn Watkins, Chief, Office of Environmental Education and Administrator, Diesel Emission Reduction Programs for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.She was instrumental in helping the company secure funding assistance through the EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Grant (DERG) program for the fleet’s new construction program.The newly constructed Tug Michigan is the third in a series of five, 64-foot Damen 1907 ICE design harbor tugs that Great Lakes Shipyard is building for The Great Lakes Towing Company’s operation.

Great Lakes Towing Company (GLT), the largest U.S.-flag tugboat company engaged in towing on the Great Lakes,  christened the new Tug OHIO into service and dedicated the historic Tug OHIO as a part of  the National Museum of the Great Lakes.A press release from GLT said that the newly constructed Tug OHIO is the second Damen Stan Tug 1907 ICE design that Great Lakes Shipyard has delivered to The Great Lakes Towing Company. The tug is 64’x24’x11’, powered by two 1,000-hp MTU 8V4000 Tier III diesel engines, and generates over 30-tons of bollard pull. Its compact size and high maneuverability make it ideal for the narrow waterways and low bridges that characterize harbor towing on the Great Lakes…

Embracing and spanning the full breadth of Great Lakes geography and business mix, GLG’s Joe Starck has his multi-missioned firm looking to the future – in more ways than one.The Great Lakes Group (GLG) takes its beginnings from its 1899 incorporation by industrial icon John D. Rockefeller, who formed the Great Lakes Towing to satisfy the demands of a Midwest industrial revolution that brought bigger ships to the region. Existing vessels, unable to keep up with demand, were supplemented and replaced by a fleet of as many as 100 tugboats; the first steel tugs in the region. GLG still has a tug that was part of that original operation.

A 10-tug build project leads to federal standard color update for Great Lakes Towing Company.Attention to detail enables uniformity. And when you’re refreshing a renowned tugboat fleet with a 117-year history, you want to ensure a uniform look across all vessels to portray a strong brand image. Doing so means achieving uniform coloring throughout the fleet. It also means having uniform colors on each vessel between dry dockings – such that maintenance coatings don’t stand out…

The Great Lakes Towing Company and Great Lakes Shipyard have announced plans to hire 100 employees before the end of January 2018 to support continued growth driven by client demand. The company said it is seeking candidates to fill a wide range of positions, including shipyard welders, shipfitters and more. “At The Towing Company, we’re looking for great people to join our team,” said Joe Starck, the company’s president. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, The Towing Company is the owner and operator of the largest fleet of shipdocking tugboats on the U.S. Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence River Seaway.

The first of 10 Stan Tug 1907 ICE vessels has been delivered by Great Lakes Shipyard to its sister company The Great Lakes Towing Company, both based in Ohio, U.S. Named Cleveland, the vessel marks a milestone in a licencing program agreed between Damen Shipyards Group and Great Lakes Shipyard following discussions that began in 2014. While the initial agreement is for the series build of 10 tugs for Great Lakes Towing, the vessels will also be available to third party buyers on a priority basis. The Stan Tug 1907 ICE is a compact design capable of 30-tons of bollard pull.

With familiar faces, new partnerships and Houston office, Damen widens its North American profile with a flurry of new work orders. With a flourish and a flurry of new business, Damen’s new U.S.-based office officially opened in Houston, Texas on July 1, 2016. Registered as Damen Area Support North America BV Co., it has been established to provide a local presence and work hand-in-hand with the North American market, offering a full range of ready built, standard and custom design vessels as well as the products and services of Damen Shipyards group ‘License to Build’ program.

Facing continued growth driven by client demand, the Great Lakes Towing Company and Great Lakes Shipyard have together added 20 new employees in Q1 2016 and are looking to hire an additional 50+ employees before the end of Q4 2016. “We’re looking out for the future,” said the company’s president, Joe Starck. “We’re strategically focusing our efforts on finding, developing and training a team of professionals for a growing workforce to successfully accomplish the contracts we have now, and the potential contracts we are working on.

The Great Lakes Towing Company & Great Lakes Shipyard announced it is now hiring with 50 jobs currently available. The shipyard is now seeking candidates to fill a range of positions including naval architects, shipyard welders and pipe fitters, project managers and more. The Great Lakes Towing Company, owner and operator of a fleet of shipdocking tugboats on the U.S. Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence River Seaway, and Great Lakes Shipyard, a full-service ship repairs and construction operation on the Great Lakes, announced plans to hire 50 employees before the end of the first quarter of 2016 to support continued growth driven by client demand. "At The Towing Company, we’re looking for great people to join our team and grow with us,” said Joe Starck, the company’s president.

The Great Lakes Towing Company, which operates the largest fleet of shipdocking tugboats on the U.S. Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Seaway, has announced the addition of four more tugboats to its fleet. The four newly purchased tugs will be named after four of the Great Lakes; Tug Michigan, Tug Huron, Tug Ontario and Tug Erie. The company’s Tug Superior has been in service for years, operating in the Port of Detroit. “These four tugs will be immediately added to the fleet, and provide some new life and operational stability to our day-to-day business,” said Gregg Thauvette, Vice President – Operations, The Great Lakes Towing Company. “The equipment and machinery onboard…

U.S. firms leverage Netherlands-based Damen Shipyard’s vessel designs and technical support. For nearly 40 years, Damen Shipyards Group in the Netherlands has licensed its vessel designs and technical support to yards owned by other companies. The business practice showcases not only the depth, variety and strength of the Damen portfolio, but also the reputation and reliability of its designs. Since 1969, Damen Shipyards has delivered more than 5,000 vessels, typically averaging 160 vessel deliveries annually.

The Great Lakes Shipyard in Cleveland, Ohio, has been contracted by New York Power Authority (NYPA) to build and deliver two new tugboats for the Niagara Power Plant’s winter operations in Buffalo, N.Y. The new tugs will augment and replace aging vessels that are used for the installation, removal and maintenance of the Lake Erie-Niagara River Ice Boom and various associated marine construction projects. The new tugs will be specially reinforced with heavy stems and shell reinforcement for operations in seasonal ice.

The Great Lakes Towing Company hosted a WIRE-Net networking event at Great Lakes Shipyard in order to celebrate manufacturing and innovation in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. More than 100 attendees gathered on the banks of the Cuyahoga River to connect with other manufacturing professionals, forge new relationships and continue to grow and strengthen the local manufacturing community. In addition to a cocktail reception, attendees received tours of the shipyard and detailed explanations of some of the new services/tools that Great Lakes Shipyard has added to their business offering.

Great Lakes Shipyard this month awarded Rapp Hydema NW the deck machinery packages for two U.S. Geological Survey research vessels now under construction. Rapp’s award includes a pair of trawl winches, a centerline winch, side-sampling winches port and starboard, and a dual net reel, for each vessel. Rapp will be providing its state-of-the art PTS Pentagon Canbus system for winch control and monitoring, as well a Rapp Syd gillnet lifter for each boat. The centerline and side-sampling winches will be slip-ring capable.