Interview: Brian "Buckley" McAllister, President of McAllister Towing

 

The fifth-generation leader of a storied company, McAllister combines maritime know-how with a lawyer’s skill set. He also plays a mean guitar.

Welcome, Buck, we're honored to have you. Let's start with your background and education. What led you to become a lawyer?

From an early age I really loved reading. I was a comparative literature major in college, so law school seemed like a good way to combine my passion for reading and critical thinking with a practical skill set. Plus, I wanted to strike out on my own – follow my own path for a while.

When did you join the family business, and why?

I grew up spending time on tugboats. From an early age, summers and holidays were spent working on the boats as a deckhand or yard laborer. In the 1990s, my Dad temporarily lost control of the company to a non-family owner. I moved to California, became an attorney and took a job with Hill Betts & Nash LLP.

In 1997, my Dad asked my brother and me to join his team to regain control of the business. We closed that transaction on August 3, 1998, and I've worked for the company ever since.

Wow, quite a story! Give our readers a brief history of the company.

Our company was founded in 1864 by James McAllister, my great-great-grandfather. He was a Gaelic-speaking Catholic from Cushendall in Northern Ireland. During the time of the famines, he worked as a Mate on a coal collier in international trade. After seeing all the opportunity available in New York harbor, he signed off the ship and bought a sail lighter, a small sailboat capable of taking cargo off anchored ships for delivery throughout the city.

Over time, he helped a number of friends and relatives emigrate from Ireland to help work in the business. With family making up much of the labor, the company benefitted from a tight-knit culture of trust, shared values and a commitment to getting jobs done right. The organization quickly developed a reputation for reliability and grew rapidly in the late 1800s.

We understand there's actually a book about the company published to commemorate its 150th anniversary in 2014. Did you write it?

No, but I did have a hand in its publication. It was mainly my father, who was passionate about the maritime industry and its history. He had a tenacious commitment to our family's legacy and was a strong supporter of the South Street Seaport Museum and the National Maritime Historical Society. He worked for decades on a history book that would pay proper tribute to our ancestors and the people who built the business.

Portions of the book were taken from recorded interviews of my grandfather, great uncles and my father's brothers and cousins. Dozens of people contributed to the project including my father, brother and me. One of the things that kept it interesting is that the book digs into all of the challenges the business faced over the years and the struggles and sacrifices it took for the organization to survive through maritime casualties, market downturns, leadership transitions, family conflict and labor disputes.

Are there other fifth-generation family members in the company besides you and your brother?

My cousin A.J. is the Senior Vice President of Sales and my second cousin Jeffrey McAllister is Vice President of Business Development. They're both qualified as captains and docking pilots and have each docked thousands of ships. They bring a wealth of hands-on experience and institutional knowledge to help shipowners navigate our harbors.

Who are the other key members of your management team?

In addition to my cousins, we're fortunate to have a seasoned and capable executive team made up of Alan Ginsberg, Chief Financial Officer; Steven Kress, Vice President of Operations; Alessandra Tebaldi, Executive Vice President and General Counsel; Michael Millar, Designated Person Ashore; Laura Moore, Risk Manager; and Robert Hughes, Chief Commercial Officer.

How many offices and employees are there?

We have fourteen main offices and over 900 employees. Our operations string from Eastport, Maine to Port Everglades, Florida and San Juan, Puerto Rico. In addition to our tugboat services, we operate the Bridgeport and Port Jefferson Steamboat Company, which is the ferry business. We also have an LNG bunkering operation in Houston, Texas.

We organize the business into 12 port regions and the ferry service. Each region is led by a General Manager, who has authority and responsibility over the local operation. The General Managers handle crewing, vessels and local customer relations and have broad discretion over day-to-day operations. They're supported by corporate departments at headquarters that handle sales, engineering, accounting, insurance, human resources and legal matters.

Tell us about the fleet. How big is it, and are there new vessels in the works?

We have 65 tugboats, four ferries, four launches and one oceangoing barge. Forty-one of the tugboats are tractor tugs. Last December we took delivery of the Long Island, a state-of-the-art car and passenger ferry, from Eastern Shipbuilding. The vessel can carry up to 120 cars and 1,000 passengers at up to 17 knots and features low-emission, EPA Tier 4-compliant engines, upgraded crew and passenger accommodations and improved access for passengers in wheelchairs. It's a big step up in passenger comfort, emissions reduction and environmental sustainability, helping us take more cars off I-95 and the Long Island Expressway. We expect to set a new record for cars carried this year.

Earlier in 2025, we took delivery of a new tug, the Isabel McAllister, and expect to take delivery soon of another tug, the Gerard McAllister, the fourth and fifth in a series built by Washburn & Doughty in Maine. These tugs are ABS-classed with +A1 Towing and Escort Vessel Class, and +AMS machinery. They also feature low-emission, EPA Tier 4 engines and enhanced crew comforts. Most importantly, they'll provide our customers with an improved margin of safety with 80 metric tons of bollard pull.

Impressive. Who are your main customers? What's the mix between commercial and military/government work?

In the ship docking business, we serve over 1,000 customers. Our customer mix is similar to the breakdown of the world fleet. Approximately half of the arrivals in our ports are container ships, 20 percent tankers, 10 percent car carriers and five percent each for Jones Act barges, dry bulk, breakbulk and military/government.

What about the workforce? Is finding and training new employees a challenge?

COVID impacted the maritime workforce significantly. For a short period of time, there was a collapse in the work available for mariners, especially in ferry operations. We kept all employees on our health plan even if there was no work. When activity bounced back, we found that many of our most experienced mariners had chosen to retire, taking a big and important chunk out of our workforce.

And with Subchapter M and STCW now in place, training new licensed workboat personnel has been a challenge.

We recruit new personnel from the maritime academies, the military, vocational programs and high schools. We're proud to employ a large number of "hawsepipers" – mariners who started in entry-level positions with our company and rose through the ranks to earn their licenses on the job.

To strengthen the talent pool, we've increased our financial support for workforce-oriented organizations including the maritime academies and organizations like the Seamen's Church Institute. Last year, we pledged $2.5 million to SUNY Maritime to support its simulator training program. For two years running, we've assisted and paid expenses for students at the New York Harbor School to get merchant mariner credentials.

What makes McAllister different? What is it that enables a company to survive and thrive for 161 years?

Ultimately, it's all about the people. Don't get me wrong, we have great boats. We've made smart investments in the right technologies and managed our fleet well over the years. But we don't view the boat business as a commodity business.

The difference for McAllister is our people and the service-oriented work they do. Our mariners go the extra mile to ensure safe ship operations every day. It gives me great satisfaction to meet customers who choose our company because of the quality and value of our performance rather than the price.

Awesome. What's your biggest challenge right now?

Our biggest challenge is keeping up with the increase in the size of ships. When I started working for the company, container ships were around 800 feet long and carried a maximum of 5,000 twenty-foot containers or TEUs. In 2016, the Panama Canal was expanded to allow bigger ships to transit. Before the expansion, the largest vessel that could transit the Panama Canal was 1,000 feet long and could carry a maximum of 8,000 TEUs. Following the expansion, the ships could be up to 1,200 feet long and carry up to 15,000 TEUs.

Now, the East Coast is seeing a number of container ships that are too big for the expanded Panama Canal. New York harbor is preparing for even bigger ships to arrive, the Ultra Large Container Ships. The high-horsepower tugs we are building today will fill that need.

What's the long-term vision for the company?

Our mission is to provide safe, sustainable and excellent quality services to our customers and keep the flag flying for generations to come. We have a great family legacy, and it takes elbow grease to measure up to that tradition. Ultimately, we strive to be the best boat company in the business.

What do you like most about your job?

The maritime industry is a people business, and what I like most about it is the social aspect. We have customers in every corner of the world, and most of them have been customers for decades. It's an amazing experience to renew a contract documenting a 100-year relationship!

I also enjoy putting together contracts with brand new companies engaged in emerging trades like LNG transportation or offshore windfarm development. We have an opportunity to honor our past while helping shape the future of maritime commerce, and I'm grateful to be in a role that lets me do both.

You've been President for, what, 12 years now? Is there a sixth generation in waiting?

My children have a great emotional connection with the business, and I expect them to carry on when I am gone. My son, Rowan, has worked as a deckhand just like I did. My daughter, Janet, has worked in the corporate office and is now helping us with a restatement of our safety management system. Both of them are observers at our board meetings. They understand the importance of long-term relationships and the value of the legacy that's been provided to them.

Excellent. How do you unwind? What do you like to do in your spare time?

I like running and music. I take guitar and mandolin lessons from Michael Daves, a Grammy-nominated musician who lives here in Brooklyn. I play music with a band called New Yeller. We play gigs in Brooklyn and are the Mile 6 band for the New York City Marathon.

That is quite a gig. You have to unload the equipment and get it inspected by drug-sniffing dogs at six in the morning and play until the last runner goes by. It's a long day.

One year John Parrott's wife, Lynne, was running. He was the COO of Foss Maritime, and she wanted us to play "Mustang Sally" at Mile 6. But we changed the words to "Marathon Lynne" – All you want to do is run around, Lynne. Run, Lynne, run. She loved it.