Yazoo River Towing Operating Mv. Melanie Hart
Yazoo River Towing Inc., a Vicksburg, Miss.-based transporter of both dry and liquid products on the inland waterways, recently acquired a 6,140 hp. towboat, the mv. Steven J. Mason, from Ingram Barge Company. Yazoo River renamed the vessel Melanie Hart after the daughter of the company’s president, Patrick Smith.
The 150- by 50-foot towboat was built by St. Louis Ship in 1967 with a retractable pilothouse for Universal Marine, which sold it to Chotin Transportation and Midland Enterprises. Ingram bought it in 2002 and converted it to a fixed-pilothouse vessel.
“The boat is in fantastic shape,” according to Smith, who said Ingram had maintained it “extremely well.” Yazoo River completely overhauled the vessel and updated all systems, he said, adding that the Melanie Hart will “enhance our operations on the Lower and Upper Mississippi and Ohio rivers.” The Melanie is the firm’s eighth line-haul vessel. When combined with the other vessels of Yazoo River’s sister companies—Big River Shipbuilders, Smith Towing and Vicksburg Plant Food, which is a liquid fertilizer manufacturer—it is the 14th.
Smith took over as president of Yazoo River Towing from his father, J.O. Smith Jr., who started the family business in 1979 to move grains and fertilizers on the Yazoo River, but then died suddenly in 2006. Patrick had already relocated to Vicksburg from Europe a year prior when his brother, Jinx Smith, who ran the company’s salvage and engine repair operations, died. The towing company is part of a family enterprise dating back to 1936, when Patrick Smith’s great grandfather started a fisheries and survey boat business on the Vicksburg city waterfront.
When Smith assumed the presidency of Yazoo River Towing, he forwent a successful career as the leader of an internationally known blues band named the Patrick Smith Band, although he still gets the group together “five or so times a year” for various gigs, he said. Two of those occasions have been to entertain attendees at the annual Inland Marine Expo sponsored by The Waterways Journal. Smith, a natural born musician, plays the blues piano and is the lead singer.
Besides moving dry and liquid products via its fleet of barges, his company also provides freight logistics services for multi-river freight moves as well as project cargo transits, according to its website. The other line-haul vessels in its fleet are the mvs. Big J.O., J.O. Bradford, Jackson Platte, Jinx P. Smith, Kristi P. Smith, Melvin L. King, Teresia and Vaylor Patrick.
Additionally, Yazoo River Towing just recently bought the mv. David Work from Jantran Inc. It is a 114-foot, 3,800 hp. towboat built in 1966 by St. Louis Ship. The vessel has yet to be renamed.
Caption for photo: The 6,140 hp. mv. Melanie Hart was built in 1967 by St. Louis Ship. Yazoo River Towing purchased it from Ingram Barge Company. (photo courtesy of Yazoo River Towing)
