Page 29: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 2001)

•KWSHM c ... & The Family, today.

McAllister Towing and Transportation today. L to R: Captain

A.J. McAllister, Eric McAllister, Brian McAllister and

Buckley McAllister. would put his fleet in for the acquisition of stock in the new Standard Oil Company. And unfortunately for the

McAllisters, my grandfather said no."

Regardless, the company continued to prosper in par- allel with the burgeoning shipping business of New

York harbor, and by 1900 Greenpoint Towage and

Lighterage had acquired more "propellers."

It was around this time that the company officially made the transition to McAllister Brothers, the compa- ny name that would exist up until the 1990s.

The New Generation "When we took over in 1974, we were very aggressive, and understood that east coast port growth was going to flatline," said Captain

Brian McAllister. And so as the prediction crystallized, so too did the future course of the family's business. The company, founded with the sail lighter that James McAllister pur- chased long ago, moved its last lighterage barge — a shipment of coffee — in 1980.

It was an aggressive attitude towards expan- sion, combined with a myriad of factors includ- ing the fickle oil market, which almost led to the company's demise in the mid 1980s. "We entered the oilfield business with supply and crewboats out of Houma, La., and eventual- ly grew the fleet to 35 vessels," said Captain

McAllister. While the company continued to add an impressive number of vessels, it also continued to add more and more debt, and Brian

McAllister's father, Anthony J. McAllister, grew concerned.

I remember my father telling me about the

Great Depression, and how the 1930s reduced

McAllister from a large, prosperous company to the operation of one tug, he said. "He had to take a job in a shipyard to support his family." While

Brian shrugged off the warnings — reasoning there would never be a depression similar to the 1930s again — the bottom nearly fell complete- ly from underneath his feet, literally, with the great oil crash in the mid 1980s.

The company had aggressively acquired — with little or no cash down — a total of 35 sup- ply and crew boats, 18 of which were working in the Persian Gulf. During the mid-80s, Gulf of

Mexico supply boat dayrates plummeted from $3,500 per day to $600 per day, and the crews that were working were being paid 50 percent of their wages.

The 18 boats that were working in the Persian Gulf, almost overnight, were reduced to three boats working and 15 tied up in Dubai. The boats were tied up literal- ly, yet at the same time had restricted the company financially, as each had an enormous mortgage with the owner signed on for them personally. "The sta- bility of port operations helped the company survive this depression ... barely," Captain

Brian McAllister said.

By the early 1990's the price of oil rebound- ed and the company's fortunes grew with the new oil economy. Now McAllister once again moved into oil field service and even oil pro- duction. Brian's brothers and cousins who owned the business all retired, or in the case of his brother Bruce McAllister, left to become the Deputy Commissioner for the Maritime

Administration in Washington. This left Brian with only one partner who felt the low margin business of tugboating should be sold. This led to a long legal dispute that was ultimately set- tled. His partner received the offshore services company, Offshore Express, the fabrication company, Offshore Specialty Fabricators, and the oil producing company, Petrotech. Brian retained the tugboat operations and the ferry service from Port Jefferson, N.Y., to Bridge- port, Conn., which was the very foundation of

Circle 275 on Reader Service Card or visit www.maritimereporterinfo.com the company. Most importantly, he retained the com- pany with very little debt "and I'd like to keep it that way," he said emphatically.

A Promising Future

The rebound from the turmoil of legal battles has been swift and pronounced, as the company has

Circle 209 on Reader Service Card or visit www.maritimereporterinfo.com

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September, 2001 29