MOBRO Marine, Inc.

MOBRO Marine, Inc. is an American marine and construction equipment business headquartered in Green Cove Springs, Florida. It was established in 1962 as Moody Brothers of Jacksonville by Maxey Dell Moody Jr. as a sister company of M. D. Moody & Sons, Inc. to handle the marine business and rental of large construction equipment.[1] In 1992, as the result of a corporate spinoff of the Pablo Creek Marina and other assets it was incorporated and renamed as MOBRO Marine, Inc.

MOBRO Marine, Inc.
TypePrivate
Industryconstruction equipment
PredecessorM. D. Moody & Sons, Inc. founded 1913 (1913)
FoundedMoody Brothers of Jacksonville: 1962 (1962)
MOBRO Marine, Inc.: 1992 (1992)
FounderMaxey Dell Moody Jr.
Headquarters
Green Cove Springs, Florida
Key people
John Henry Rowland III
(President)
John Hall
(Vice President and COO)
Steve Cumella
(Vice President and CFO)
Maxey Dell Moody IV
(Vice President)
ServicesBarge transport, Cranes, Heavy machinery
Websitewww.mobromarine.com

History
MOBRO Marine tug and barge in 1976.
MOBRO Marine barge with an American crane by the Main Street Bridge in Jacksonville in 2014.

In 1962 Moody Brothers of Jacksonville was established by Maxey Dell Moody Jr. to handle the marine business and rental of large construction equipment of its sister company M. D. Moody & Sons, Inc. The name Moody brothers comes from Maxey’s sons Maxey III, Boyd, Mike and Joe. Moody Brothers contributed to the growth of M. D. Moody & Sons, Inc. by way of tug and barge marine projects. By 1984 Moody Brothers possessed over 100 barges such as material hauling or load line barges. Moody Brothers, like its sister company M. D. Moody & Sons, Inc., has a large rental fleet of cranes and other construction equipment but with a focus on marine services.[2]

In 1987 the MOBRO 4000 incident occurred when a barge owned by MOBRO Marine full of garbage from New York City was turned away by three countries and six states while making national headlines along with a nightly gag of a map tracker by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.[3][4]

The name MOBRO was used in the 1980s by combining Moody Brothers into the word MOBRO. In 1992 when it had a corporate spin-off of the Pablo Creek Marina by M. D. Moody & Sons under Max Moody Jr.'s son Maxey Dell Moody III and was officially incorporated as MOBRO Marine, Inc. In 1992 MOBRO also purchased a dry-dock marina called Arlington Marina.[5] In 1994 M. D. Moody purchased an industrial shipping yard for its subsidiary Moody Fabrication & Machine, Inc. MOBRO Marine also used the shipping yard for various operations. By 2010 MOBRO became the Kobelco Crawler crane dealer of Florida.[6] In 2002 Maxey III's sons Max Moody IV and Ray Moody, the third generation of Moody brothers, joined MOBRO Marine as a vice president. Ray Moody was a vice president at MOBRO Marine until 2005. Maxey Jr.'s grandson John Rowland III, previously an operations manager at MOBRO Marine, became a vice president in 2002. John Rowland became president of MOBRO Marine in 2004. In March 2010 a MOBRO barge was used to transport a cable from Nassau to Exuma.[7]

The Great Recession did not impact MOBRO because of its diversity of equipment in areas such as New York and South America. However, its former sister company M. D. Moody & Sons, Inc. was struggling forcing the closure of all its branches. M. D. Moody's Tampa branch property was transferred to MOBRO Marine giving it greater access to the Caribbean.[8] In 2015 MOBRO established a parts division by acquiring parts from M. D. Moody & Sons, Inc. It currently operates out of Green Cove Springs and Tampa with operations to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. John Rowland and Max Moody IV, grandsons of Max Moody Jr., are the fourth generation of Moodys to operate MOBRO Marine.[9] In January 2016 the barge Big Max transported a 20-mile underwater cable for Deepwater Wind's 30MW Block Island offshore wind farm off Rhode Island.[10]

MOBRO Marine assisted in retrieving Miami Air Flight 293 out of the St. Johns River at Naval Air Station Jacksonville and transporting it to Green Cove Springs.[11] In September 2020 MOBRO Marine used a barge to move the Confederate monument in downtown Saint Augustine, Florida to the Trout River Fish Camp in Jacksonville.[12]

Operations
Sany crawler crane and Kato rough terrain at the Jacksonville Parts Department, formerly M. D. Moody & Sons, Inc. in 2012.

The operations of MOBRO Marine, Inc. revolves around the rental of barges, cranes and tugboats to marine contractors. MOBRO also refurbishes American cranes, repair cranes and barges, perform marine salvage, and provide inland and worldwide towing services.[13][14] MOBRO Marine, Inc. is headquartered on the St. Johns River in Green Cove Springs, Florida and also has a shipyard in Tampa, Florida. The Tampa shipyard operates to serve the customer needs in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.[15] The facility in Green Cove Springs has over 100 barges, a large rental fleet of cranes with a lift capacity of 450 tons and a fleet of tugboats up to 2500 hp. MOBRO Marine, Inc. has been involved in building bridges and other marine projects throughout the Southeastern United States. One notable event for MOBRO is in Jacksonville, Florida where MOBRO barges are used for the Fourth of July fireworks.[16] The barges of MOBRO are also used to transport heavy equipment such as NASA's giant external fuel tank in 2013.[17]

Jacksonville Parts Department

The MOBRO Jacksonville Parts Department was the result of the acquisition of M. D. Moody's parts department adjacent to its former headquarters. The parts department distributes crane parts from the manufacturer to the customer. Parts distributed by MOBRO are for a variety of heavy equipment such as American, Kobelco and Bucyrus-Erie.[18]

Tampa Shipyard

The Tampa shipyard was previously occupied by M. D. Moody & Sons until it was acquired by MOBRO. Operations to the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico are launched from the Tampa shipyard.[19]

See also

Notes
  1. Gianoulis, Deborah; Smith, Lawrence (1998). Jacksonville: Reflections of Excellence. Memphis, TN: Towery Publishing, Inc. p. 225.
  2. Gianoulis, Deborah; Smith, Lawrence (1998). Jacksonville: Reflections of Excellence. Memphis, TN: Towery Publishing, Inc. p. 225.
  3. Winerip, Daniel. "The Big Stories Then in the Clear Light of Now". nytimes.com. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  4. "A Flash Point". agardenlife.com. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 6, 2014.
  5. "Marina seeks to expand facilities". Florida Times-Union. July 5, 1997. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  6. John, Libby. "MOBRO Marine, Inc". tlimagazine.com. TLI. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  7. "BAHAMAS TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY CABLE REPAIR". CSA Ocean Sciences. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  8. Libby, John. "MOBRO Marine Inc". tlimagazine.com. Transportation & Logistics International. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  9. Ruggiero, Brenda (March 3, 2015). "Mobro Marine Parts Division Supports Crane Operations". Construction Equipment Guide. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  10. "Block Island link complete". Renews. January 7, 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  11. Ponson, Steve. "PLANE THAT SLID OFF NAS JAX RUNWAY IS OUT OF THE ST. JOHNS RIVER". WOKV. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  12. Gardner, Sheldon (September 9, 2020). "Crews remove St. Augustine's Confederate memorial from the Plaza". The St. Augustine Record.
  13. "Services". mobromarine.com. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  14. "A Full-Service Marine Equipment Company Since 1962!". mobromarine.net. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  15. "Mobro Marine, Inc". Machinerytrader.com. Machinery Trader. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  16. Burk, Don. "Pyro Shows sets up barges for fireworks displays". Jacksonville.com. Jacksonville.com. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
  17. Whitley, Philip. "Giant space shuttle tank passes through St. Augustine en route to Keystone". staugustine.com. staugustine.com. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
  18. Ruggiero, Brenda (March 3, 2015). "Mobro Marine Parts Division Supports Crane Operations". Construction Equipment Guide. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  19. "Mobro Marine, Inc". Machinery Trader. Retrieved 27 June 2016.

References
  • MOBRO Marine, Inc. Website
  • Gianoulis, Deborah and Lawrence Smith (1998). "Jacksonville: Reflection of Excellence." Towery Publishing, Inc.
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