MOBRO Marine, Inc.

History

In 1962 Moody Brothers of Jacksonville was established by Max Moody, Jr. to handle the marine business and rental of large construction equipment of its sister company M. D. Moody & Sons, Inc. The Moody brothers, Maxey Dell Moody, Jr. and Muller Pearson Moody, were the only sons of M. D. Moody who took over M. D. Moody & Sons after his death in 1949. 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.

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.

In 1992 Moody Brothers had a corporate spin-off of the Pablo Creek Marina by M. D. Moody & Sons under Max Moody III and was incorporated as MOBRO Marine, Inc. In 1992 MOBRO also purchased a dry-dock marina called Arlington Marina. 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. In March 2010 a MOBRO barge was used to transport a cable from Nassau to Exuma.

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. 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. 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.

Operations

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. 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.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. The barges of MOBRO are also used to transport heavy equipment such as NASA's giant external fuel tank in 2013.

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.

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.