Todd Busch News

Tidewater Barge Lines, Inc will expand its regional barge service on the Columbia River after being awarded grant funding from the U.S. Department Maritime Administration (MARAD).The $4,168,759 from MARAD, combined with nearly $2 million in matching funds from Tidewater, will provide two new low and zero emission cranes that will enable the loading of additional solid waste containers on barges for shipment from southwest Washington to eastern Oregon.“This award will allow Tidewater…

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s solutions group announced that it is reorganizing and establishing new leadership to better serve customers in need of engineering, project management and government services. Solutions is the company’s dedicated, full-service engineering, project management and government services team, reporting to Crowley’s Todd Busch, senior vice president and general manager, technical services. Jay Edgar, who is new to Crowley, has been appointed vice president and leader of the company’s newly formed engineering services team…

Crowley Maritime Corporation announced it has restructured its business units as the company aims to increase its focus on government-related business and better align vessel operations and fuel distribution services. Over the coming months, the 125-year-old company will transition its non-liner and logistics business units into three main service lines: Crowley Shipping, Crowley Fuels and Crowley Solutions. “This plan facilitates a pivot towards growing the company’s government portfolio of work…

Todd Busch, Sr. Vice President & General Manager, Technical Services, at Crowley Maritime, has joined Sea Machines Robotics’ board of directors. The Boston-based Sea Machines is building autonomous control technology for commercial vessels. Busch, who joined Crowley in 1987 as an ordinary seaman, is currently responsible for naval architecture and marine engineering, government services, ship management, marine salvage and wreck removal, new-vessel construction and the chartering and operations of Crowley’s offshore tug and barge fleet.

Crowley Maritime Corp. has formalized two new groups, Government Services and Global Ship Management, in a move that aims to better streamline its offerings to the growing government services sector and to continue expanding its global ship management business. The two new, standalone business segments, which were previously imbedded in other company business units, will allow Crowley and its personnel to better serve customers in these contracting segments. Leading the new business units are industry veterans Mike Golonka…

The keel for the second Commitment Class liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered, combination container – Roll-On/Roll-Off (ConRo) ship for Crowley Maritime Corp.’s liner services group was laid yesterday during a ceremony at shipbuilder VT Halter Marine, Inc.’s facility in Pascagoula, Miss. The keel laying ceremony marked the next step in the construction of Crowley’s two Commitment Class ships, which will exclusively serve the U.S.-Puerto Rico trade lane. “The keel laying marks the ceremonial beginning of the construction and formation of the backbone of a ship…

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s Houston-based subsidiary TITAN Salvage and Italian engineering partner Micoperi were honored with the International Salvage Union (ISU) Meritorious Service Award during the organization’s Associate Members’ Day Conference in London. The award was presented by ISU President Leendert Muller in recognition of TITAN and Micoperi’s outstanding service to the salvage industry during the successful execution of the largest single maritime wreck removal project ever to be undertaken, the Costa Concordia.

The best third party ship managers employ technology, good business practices, economies of scale and a customized approach for each client. None of that will succeed without first addressing the human element of the equation. Ship managers Crowley Maritime, Thome and Bibby Ship management companies all manage tonnage for others, in sometimes dissimilar sectors and different regions and world trades. Those differences set the three groups apart in terms of the skill sets necessary to manage different classes and types of ships. What brings them all together is a common belief that the human element of ship management is a critical piece of the equation. As it turns out, it may actually be the most important.

The keel for the first of two liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered, combination container – Roll-On/Roll-Off (ConRo) ships for Crowley Maritime Corp.’s liner services group was laid during a ceremony at ship-builder VT Halter Marine, Inc.’s facility in Pascagoula, Miss. The keel laying ceremony marked the next step in the construction of Crowley’s first Commitment Class ship, which will exclusively serve the U.S.-Puerto Rico trade lane, replacing the company’s towed triple-deck barge fleet in the South Atlantic trade which served the trade since the early 1970s.

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s global ship management group has been has been awarded the contract for the operation and maintenance of the T-AGOS/T-AGM fleet for the Military Sealift Command. This fleet of seven ships supports the Navy’s Surveillance Towed Array Sensor Systems (SURTASS) operations; the U.S. Air Force's dual-band, phased array and parabolic dish radars; and other government research missions. The contract covers the operation and maintenance of five T-AGOS and up to two T-AGM ocean surveillance ships.

As part of the company's new vessel build program, Crowley Maritime Corp. christened the latest of its four tugboats in the ocean class series, Ocean Sun, today in Lake Charles. The ceremony served to formally welcome the fourth dynamic positioning 2 (DP2) tugboat to the company’s expanded ocean towing fleet, which has been involved in most of the major offshore oil production installations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico over the past 18 months. Todd Busch, senior vice president and general manager of Crowley’s solutions group, opened the ceremony to approximately 80 guests.

Crowley Maritime Corp. said that the third of four tugboats in the Ocean-class series, Ocean Sky, has been christened in Houston. The ceremony served to formally welcome the third dynamic positioning (DP) tugboat to the company’s expanded ocean towing fleet, which has been involved in most of the major offshore oil production installations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico over the past 16 months. Todd Busch, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crowley’s solutions group, opened the ceremony to approximately 140 guests. Following an introduction of the tug’s crew members and a blessing of the vessel by Father Sinclair Oubre, Jennifer Legg, Crowley’s assistant treasurer and vessel sponsor, broke the ceremonial bottle of champagne across the hull of the boat.

On the heels of the recent delivery of Olympus, the largest tension-leg platform ever to be developed for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Crowley has once again shown support for the domestic petroleum industry by providing ocean towing and positioning support services for the Lucius spar in the Gulf of Mexico for Anadarko Petroleum. Three of Crowley’s ocean class tugs, Ocean Wind, Ocean Wave and Ocean Sun, towed the 605-foot long, 110-foot wide spar from Corpus Christi, Texas, through the Ingleside Channel and out to Keathley Canyon Block 875 some 300 miles offshore.

Four of Crowley Maritime Corp’s ocean class tugboats , the 'Ocean Wind', 'Ocean Wave', 'Ocean Sky' and 'Ocean Sun', recently completed the successful delivery of the offshore oil production and drilling platform, Olympus, to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The project was significant because it provided the first opportunity for all four of the company's new high-bollard-pull, ocean class tugboats to work together on any single job. The rig, owned by Royal Dutch Shell, is also considered the largest tension-leg platform ever to be developed for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The first of four Crowley Maritime Corporation ocean class tugboats, Ocean Wave, completed its inaugural project earlier this month by removing a grounded containership from the northern coast of Cuba. The job is additionally significant because it utilized many of Crowley’s unique capabilities, equipment and established relationships with Cuban entities and government to complete the job quickly despite many challenges. The project’s success hinged on a coordinated and timely response from Antilliana De Salvemento, the Cuban salvage company which subcontracted Titan Salvage, Crowley’s Pompano, Fla.-based emergency response, marine salvage and wreck removal company, and Houston-based T&T Marine Salvage, to assist with the removal of the stricken containership.

Nearly two years ago, the Obama Administration tightened rules for removing “idle iron” – old oil platforms and pipelines – and on plugging unused wells in the Gulf of Mexico. That September 2010 move was part of a federal crackdown on deepwater oil and gas operations following the 2010 BP spill. Since then, heavy-lift companies have continued to rid the Gulf of unused structures and other firms have positioned themselves for that work. Under the 2010 rules, wells that hadn't been used for five years were to be abandoned or “zonally isolated” within three years after Oct. 15, 2010.

Todd Busch: SVP and General Manager, Technical Services at Crowley Maritime Corporation. Todd Busch joined Crowley as an ordinary seaman in 1986, earning his masters’ license working aboard company tugboats before coming ashore in 1994 as a tug dispatcher. Since then, he has held a variety of positions with increasing responsibility within the firm. Today, the 24-year Crowley veteran is a member of the company’s senior leadership team, reporting directly to Crowley CEO Tom Crowley. Based at Crowley’s headquarters in Jacksonville, FL, he is responsible for several of the company’s business enterprises including the project management organization PMOrg (known as Crowley solutions), as well as subsidiaries Titan Salvage, Jensen Maritime Consultants, and Intrepid Ship Management.

New Location Strategically Positions Jensen along U.S. Gulf, West and East Coasts. Seattle-based Jensen Maritime Consultants, a Crowley Maritime Corporation company, announced today that it has expanded its presence to the U.S. Gulf with the establishment of a third office in New Orleans, La. This strategic new location places Jensen in close proximity to many important customers and shipyards in the U.S. Gulf, as well as to Crowley’s Houston-based solutions group, a Project Management Organization (PMOrg). Solutions provides marine project management services as a prime contractor for the energy and resource extraction industries. The company’s full services – including new design…

Crowley's Ocean Rangers Have Protected Alaska's Environment Since 2008. The State of Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) has announced that it has awarded a contract to Crowley Maritime Corporation to continue administering the State of Alaska's Ocean Ranger Program, effective November 2011. The contract directs Crowley to recruit, hire, train and organize the logistics of placing Ocean Rangers on board cruise ships each season to act as independent observers and to assure compliance with federal and state environmental health, sanitation and safety requirements.

Crowley Maritime Corporation announced today the establishment of a new Project Solutions group that bundles company-wide capabilities and assets with world-class project management skills to provide complete turnkey marine solutions. This specialized team, which now has a Project Management Office (PMO) in Houston, Texas, allows Crowley to provide greater value to customers with multifaceted marine and offshore construction-related projects. Crowley's Project Solutions group…

Sixteen Crowley-managed vessels were recently honored with U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System (AMVER) awards in recognition of their voluntary rescue services to people aboard vessels in distress in 2010. Crowley received the recognition from Congressman Frank LoBiondo, chairman of the House Subcommittee on the USCG and Maritime Transportation, and Admiral Robert Papp, commandant of the USCG, during a dinner in Washington, D.C. The 16 Crowley-managed vessels that received the awards include the Endurance, Guardian, Sea Prince, Sinuk, Stalwart, Charleston Express, Philadelphia Express, St. Louis Express, Washington Express, Yorktown Express, Blue Ridge, Coast Range, Courage, Pelican State, Resolve and the Sunshine State.

Rich Habib has been appointed vice president of Titan Salvage with responsibility for the company's overall performance, including operations, administration, finance and commercial activities. He is domiciled at Titan's headquarters in Pompano Beach, Fla., and reports to Todd Busch, Crowley Maritime Corporation's senior vice president and general manager of technical services. Titan is a Crowley subsidiary. "I am very pleased to welcome Rich back to Titan," said Busch. "He began as one of our jack-up barge superintendents and then became a salvage master.

Titan Salvage introduced more than 200 guests to its newest salvage response facility in western Singapore on Oct. 16. The reception celebrated the opening of the 45,000 sq ft, self-contained facility, which will serve as Titan's corporate office in the region. The complex features a fully equipped workshop to service and repair Titan's extensive inventory of salvage equipment, a dedicated diving equipment workshop and specialized storage and equipment handling space. The new…