On May 9, 2012, Canal Barge Company hosted U.S. Coast Guard Cadets Collin Gruin and Joshua Villafane  as a part of the Cadet Towing Vessel Rider Program. The program was launched in the beginning of May 2012 at the academy with an orientation program about the inland towing industry. The program places 16 participating USCG Academy cadets on commercial towing vessels to learn about inland navigation across Coast Guard sectors around the country from where they joined their assigned towboat companies.

CBC Operations and HR leaders provided an orientation on the inland marine industry as well as our company and operations. The cadets also spent time aboard the MV Joseph Merrick Jones learning about our operations first hand. We are committed to working with the USCG on the development of smart regulation and inspection programs to ensure the safety of our crews, equipment and customers’ product. Canal Barge is proud of our mariners, Operations and HR leaders for participating in this important program.

WorkBoat Magazine recently featured a story highlighting the program and highlighted CBC’s involvement. Click here to read the full story on WorkBoat.com.

The US Coast Guard will step up their efforts to inspect inland towboats and tugs July 1, 2011 as a part of the Towing Vessel Bridging Program (TVBP). The TVBP was initiated by a partnership between the Coast Guard and industry to smooth the transition to the forthcoming towing vessel inspection regime. The program allows towboats to be examined for compliance with current regulations to ensure they have a strong foundation for becoming inspected vessels. So far, the USCG has inspected 2,887 towing vessels that volunteered to be inspected in the 26 states that fall under the Coast Guard’s Eighth District, which is headquartered in New Orleans.

Canal Barge Company volunteered for the program and was recognized in October 2010 for achieving 100% compliance with the Towing Vessel Bridging Program. CBC was one of the first inland marine companies to have all 23 vessels awarded Uninspected Towing Vessel (UTV) decals. The decals signify a vessel has satifactorily completed the voluntary examination process through the TVBP. As our fleet grows, we are committed to this inspection program and working with the USCG to ensure the safety of our crews, equipment and customers’ product. Canal Barge is proud of our onboard mariners and our Operations Team that proactively led this voluntary program to completion for our fleet to ensure we always move with confidence.

To read more about the inspection program and the collaboration between our industry and the US Coast Guard click here.

On May 3, 2012, Canal Barge Company invited Chad Pregracke to speak to our shoreside employees in the New Orleans office. Chad is the founder and president of Living Lands & Waters, a non-profit organization focused on protection, preservation and restoration of the nations’ major rivers and their watersheds.

Chad grew up on the upper Mississippi River and is a passionate advocate for a healthy and sustainable waterway system for our nation. In 1998 at the age of 23, Chad founded the organization where he and his crew conduct river clean-up projects in an average of nine states a year along the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio Rivers, as well as many of their tributaries. Since the project’s inception, Chad, his crew, and over 60,000 volunteers have collected over 6 million pounds of debris from our nation’s greatest rivers.

CBC is committed to being stewards of the environment. We look forward to working with organizations like Living Lands & Waters to learn about initiatives and be an active participants in keeping our waterways clean, safe and sustainable.

To learn more about this great organization, please check out the website: www.livinglandsandwaters.org

Chad’s work was recently spotlighted on the CBS Morning Show. Click here to view the clip.