Magnolia Marine Transport celebrated 36-year employee Jody McMinn Thursday with the launching of a towboat bearing his name.

“He’s honoring us by allowing us to use his name on the boat,” said Stan Humphreys, senior vice president for the riverboat company.

The newly christened MV Jody McMinn is the last of a series of five 3,000-horsepower vessels completed in Greenville about a month ago. The tow will make its first run to St. James, La., around Sunday to push a barge carrying crude oil.

Boat Capt. Hank Pouliot, who bet McMinn $10 some months ago that one of the new tows would be named for him, said crews will call on McMinn, an electrician, when an onboard engineer is unable to repair a problem — despite their location.

“I’ll be the one to go work on it,” said McMinn.

Humpreys said McMinn, 59, has earned the reputation of being the most dependable person he knows.

“Jody is one of the cornerstones of the company’s foundation,” Humphreys said. Boat names in the past have honored members of the Lampton family, owners of Magnolia Marine Transport.

Lee Lampton, company president, said McMinn was chosen for the honor because he was one of the most respected employees at the company.

McMinn said he was humbled by the honor. “For people who’ve been in the towboat business — to have a boat named after you — it’s a big thing,” he said.

During Thursday’s ceremony, the Rev. Mike Hammett, chaplain for The Seamen’s Church Institute, blessed two bottles of motor oil before crewmen poured it into the engines. He then presented McMinn and Pouliot with Anglican Rosaries along with a Bible to stay aboard and be shared with the crew.

“We believe God’s word provides safe journeys,” Hammett said.

McMinn said he started working with MMT in Greenville soon after he finished high school in 1973.

“Magnolia Marine was just starting up when I went to work with them,” he said. He’s lived with his family in Vicksburg since 1974.

With 19 tows and dozens of specialized barges, MMT is the largest inland waterways transportation fleet in the United States. The company moves asphalt, crude oil, residual oil, lube oil, diesel and gasoline throughout the Mississippi River system and intracoastal waterways of the Gulf of Mexico.

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Contact Tish Butts at tbutts@vicksburgpost.com