FMT Honors Steele Hull With Namesake Vessel

Florida Marine Transporters LLC (FMT), one of the largest barge lines in the industry with a fleet of roughly 100 towboats and 1,000 barges homeported in Mandeville, La., has put into service a new towboat named for a gentleman who, by virtue of his given name and family background, is perfectly suited for the maritime industry—Steele Hull.

Hull, 34, is the company’s commercial director, with responsibilities that include financial planning, forecasting and budgeting, and fostering relationships with financial partners. He joined FMT full time in 2018 with an initial focus on operational analysis. He quickly expanded into other areas, including regulatory compliance and financial modeling for the company.

“We have a traffic meeting every morning run by our owner and CEO, Dennis Pasentine, that features a large magnetic board with all of the boats’ positions on it,” Hull said.

One day, Hull looked up on the board to see a new boat with his name on it.

“I was really taken aback,” he said. “It is just such a huge honor. I’m truly humbled.”

Hull said he was also grateful for the crew and its captain, Michael Snider.

“They’re the ones who are out there day in and day out,” he said. “They are the lifeblood of the company. I’m just here to support what they do.”

Hull said he knows his name is a conversation starter.

“The Coast Guard loves to question me about my name,” Hull said, laughing. “They say they need a real name on file when it shows up on emails and paperwork.”

His father, Ron Hull—the one responsible for naming him—owned a barge brokerage business for 27 years before joining forces with Pasentine in 2005. The elder Hull is now the company’s executive vice president.

While his father was a tight end for the Oklahoma Sooners, Steele played fullback for the LSU Tigers before transferring to the Western Oregon Wolves, where he was a defensive lineman. His brother was a fullback and tight end for the North Texas Mean Green.

Steele graduated summa cum laude in 2014 from Western Oregon and went on to earn his MBA from Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business in 2017. While at Tulane, he served as associate director of the Burkenroad Reports Equity Research Program. In 2017, Steele also married his long-time sweetheart, Ciera. The two have a three-year-old son named Steele Jr.

Vessel Specs

Built by Steiner Shipyard on a design by Sterling Marine, the mv. Steele Hull is the fifth of five towboats Steiner has built for FMT. It is a conventional twin-screw towboat that measures 76 by 35 by 11 feet. The main engines are Caterpillar C32 Tier 3 units provided by Louisiana Cat. Coupled to Twin Disc 540 reduction gears with a 7:1 ratio from Sewart Supply, the engines turn Sound 76- by 68-inch propellers on 7-inch shafts with Simplan tailshaft seals and Duramax Cutlass bearings.

The engines are cooled by Fernstrum keel coolers and monitored by an alarm system from EMI, which also provided the electric-over-hydraulic steering system.

When fully loaded with fuel and water (30,000 gallons and 10,000 gallons, respectively), the boat draws 8 feet. The pilothouse eye level is 34 feet, 6 inches. Auxiliary power for the new boat is produced by a pair of John Deere 99 kw. generators furnished by Kennedy Engine Company. Quarters for seven consist of one single and three double bunkrooms plus two full and two half bathrooms.

An exercise room, fully furnished lounge and all-stainless-steel galley provide additional comfort for the crew. The deckhouse interior, manufactured and installed by Kern Martin, is insulated throughout with mineral wool and Mascoat sound dampening material in strategic locations. Air conditioning and heating is provided by a Mitsubishi split ductless system, fire safety is achieved through a Novec system from Hiller Systems, and fendering is Schuyler. The mv. Steele Hull has two Patterson 40-ton electric winches. Its electronic suite was supplied and installed by FMT’s in-house IT/electronics department.

Featured Image caption: Steele Hull, commercial director for Florida Marine, sits in the wheelhouse of his namesake vessel.