TTB 2021 sees record attendance second year in a row
Written by Heather Ervin
Setting a new record for the event, almost 500 participants took part in Marine Log’s TTB 2021 — Tugs, Towboats & Barges conference.
This was the second virtual presentation of TTB. A large majority of attendees were C-Level executives and maritime owner/operators, including CEOs, presidents, vice presidents, and others with hiring, buying and management authority.
The theme of the event this year was “Powering Opportunities on U.S. Waterways.”
“It was unfortunate we had to once again convert TTB 2021 to a virtual platform, but we couldn’t have been happier with how it turned out,” says Heather Ervin, editor in chief of Marine Log magazine. “TTB 2020, also held virtually with a short turn-around time due to COVID was one of our strongest events in recent history. We knew TTB 2021 would be even more successful.”
The two-day lineup of industry expert speakers covered a number of topics important to vessel owners and operators.
TTB 2021 began with a keynote presentation by Jennifer Carpenter, CEO and president of the American Waterways Operators (AWO), on “Opportunities and Challenges for the Tugboat, Towboat, and Barge Industry with a New Administration.”
Other topics included an examination of recent tug, towboat and barge accidents by the NTSB, the trend toward designing more “mission specific” tugs, everything the industry should know about restructuring, an inspiring look at why advocating for diversity in the maritime industry is key to workforce development, and more.
TTB 2021 was backed by a number of sponsors, which included Wärtsilä, Cummins, Bristol Harbor Group, Crowley, JonRie InterTech, ABB, Vignum Litae, MTU – a Rolls-Royce Solution, Elliott Bay Design Group, MOPS Marine License Insurance, Colonial Oil Industries, Phoenix, and Rexnord CENTA.
Robert “Bob” Lennon, business development manager–Americas for Rexnord CENTA, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., moderated the event.
TTB 2022 is scheduled to take place in March 2022 in Mobile, Ala.
“We have great faith in the probability of our next TTB event being in person,” says Gary Lynch, publisher of Marine Log. “As far as TTB 2021, the Marine Log team would like to thank all of our speakers, sponsors and virtual attendees for making this our best event to date.”
