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292 293 John Parrott, President and CEO of Foss, guides with his mind on the helm and his heart on the sea. “I’m a mariner by back- ground, and sometimes I’ll wander into using terms that make a lot of sense to me, but not to people who don’t do this for a living,” says Parrott. “When you talk about transportation in America, everyone thinks about roads, rail and airplanes, yet the oldest transportation method in our country for the movement of people and goods are our lakes, rivers, and coastal waters. In the future, as it becomes more difficult and costly to build roads and expand airports, and there’s more pressure on trucking and rail, I believe our country will go back to using more domestic water trans- portation. It already is the largest by tonnage means of moving freight in the U.S. and around the world.” From local harbor jobs to complex projects in the world’s harshest environments, Foss FOSS MARITIME COMPANY AT A GLANCE FOSS MARITIME COMPANY WHAT: A maritime transportation services company WHERE: Corporate Headquarters in Seattle, Washington WEBSITE: www.foss.com has the capabilities, resources, and expertise to efficiently manage customers’ toughest challeng- es. Foss engineered and built the world’s first hybrid tug and hybrid tug conversion, and con- tinues to expand its Arctic Class fleet – recently launching three Ice Class tugs; the last of which, the Nicole Foss, was christened in June of this year. She follows in the wake of her sister vessels that have towed oil field equipment from Korea to Alaska’s North Slope, traveled thousands of miles across the globe towing drilling rigs to the Siberian Arctic, and joined in operations at Red Dog Mine. Along with these carefully planned trips, the Arctic Class Tug, Michele Foss, recently executed an emergency rescue of a 751-foot, 81,882-deadweight ton bulk carrier in the Gulf of Alaska. Parrott says beyond the hybrids and Arctic Class tugs, Foss tugs are hard at work every day along the West Coast, Hawaii, Alaska, and beyond: “They’re the work horses of industrial harbors all over the world.We tow oil barges up and down the coast, and do different kinds of delivery, even random one-off projects – tows going to Russia, the Far East, Africa, Indonesia… If you have a ma- rine service requirement, we have the skills and resources to support it.” Foss recently completed the transportation