Brandon Holmes

Brandon is no stranger to the inland boat and barge industry. His grandfather, father, and uncle were all chief engineers on river towboats. And still today he has an uncle that serves as captain on a line haul boat on the Mississippi river. Brandon himself also served some time on the water ways. During the summers between university semesters, he served as deckhand on the intracoastal canal from New Orleans to Houston.

As his college career progressed, so did his desire for further tow boat education. Over the course of two summers he served as assistant project manager for two major vessel refurbishments and dry dock projects and 1 project lead on a major dry dock project..It was here that he got the bug for the towing industry. Upon graduating college with an Industrial Engineering degree, he started his career as a port engineer of towing vessels. He held this role for 8 years. Through the years, he assisted with the USCG’s bridging program and the introduction of Subchapter M.

Seeing a greater need for more surveyors and auditors for the inception of Subchapter M, he began working full time as a compliance consultant. He assisted both new construction shipyards and vessel operators with the implementation of these new regs.

His knowledge was recognized and he was offered a job as compliance manager for a fleeting and shifting company. Over the course of his time here, he gained additional duties as Manager of compliance and maintenance. He assisted with management changes to obtain TMSA tier 1 compliance for their management system as well as SIRE vetting for the entire fleet of vessels and barges. He led proactive maintenance changes to decrease vessel downtime by 30%. He has training in root cause and incident investigation experience, Facility Security officer training, Management of Change. He joined the Marcom team in October 2020. He attained his accreditation as a Category 3 SIRE inspector and hit the deck running.

Brandon lives with his wife and three children. He is based in the Port Arthur area, and serves as primary inspector for Port Arthur/Beaumont and the Lake Charles Areas.