AWO Elects New Chair & Vice Chair

The members of the American Waterways Operators (AWO), the national trade association for the American tugboat, towboat and barge industry, elected Timothy J. Casey as Chairman and George Foster as Vice Chairman on Friday, April 3 during the AWO Spring Convention in Washington. Casey is President & CEO of K-Sea Transportation Corp., headquartered in East Brunswick, New Jersey, and served as vice chairman for the past year. Foster is President of JB Marine Service, Inc., headquartered in St. Louis.

In his remarks to the AWO Board of Directors following his election as chairman, Mr. Casey said that the key priorities for the coming year will include ensuring the new towing vessel inspection program develops appropriately.  “We have worked very hard with the Coast Guard to develop a reasonable, practical and unique approach to vessel inspection,” he said.  Other challenges he cited include preventing mariners from having to make a second trip to an enrollment center to obtain their Transportation Worker Identification Credential, and defeating a proposal in the Federal Budget for a lockage tax.

Casey has served as President, Chief Executive Officer and director of K-Sea since July 2003. Previously, he served as President, Chief Executive Officer and director of EW Transportation LLC from April 1999. Casey joined EW Transportation LLC's predecessor in October 1988 as its Controller and was its Chief Financial Officer from 1996 until April 1999. Prior to that, Casey was Controller for New York Towing Corp., a joint venture with Zapata Gulf Marine. From 1982 to 1987, he worked for Zapata Gulf Marine in operations, traffic and finance. Mr. Casey has a Bachelors of Arts in Business Administration/Finance from Texas A&M University and a Master of Science in Transportation from the State University of New York, Maritime College. He is a board member for The Seamen's Church Institute.  

K-Sea Transportation Corp. is the largest coastwise tank barge operator in the United States. The company provides refined petroleum products marine transportation, distribution and logistics services in the U.S. domestic marine transportation business. It has a wide range of customers including major oil companies, oil traders and refiners.  K-Sea operates from locations in New York, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Seattle and Honolulu.