About Us

Turn Services, founded in 1990 and headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, is one of the largest independent fleeting and shifting companies in the United States. We offer a broad range of barge related resources including cleaning, repair and vessel services along the Lower Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to the mouth of the river. We also offer towing services on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway from Texas to Florida.

Our Story

Defining Principles

In 1990, Frank Morton founded Turn Services on the principles of putting people first and leading by example. Thirty years later, those founding principles still define Turn Services. Whether it’s barge fleet services on the Lower Mississippi River and Gulf Intracoastal Waterway or towing throughout the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida, we know water commerce never stops, so neither do we. Our story is just getting started, and we want you to be a part of the next chapter.

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Tradition

When Turn Services started 34 years ago, we had a single barge fleet in Burnside, Louisiana, and no vessels but we had a vision of how to best serve our customers, our team and our community. In those early years, Frank Morton managed payroll and contracts from his home. Operations would later move to Davant, Louisiana where Turn Services provided barge fleeting, cleaning and topside repair for companies like Electro-Coal, IMT and ACBL.

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Innovation

By the early 2000s, business growth led to the company’s acquisition of the first towboat, the M/V Valley Sunrise, later renamed M/V Sir Barton. In 2004, Morton teamed up with David Fennelly and Gary Poirrier, co-chairmen of Associated Terminals, a leading terminal operator on the Lower Mississippi River. Turn Services became the primary barge fleeting and service provider for Associated Terminals. That’s when Turn Services began naming towing vessels after champion thoroughbreds, starting with Triple Crown winners.

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Growth

Over the past decade, Turn Services has been growing its fleet and expanding its reach. Under the direction of Mario Muñoz, President of Turn Services, the Turn team now operates five barge fleeting locations in the New Orleans region, as well as Michoud Fleet in the Michoud Canal. As the company’s fleet of pushboats has grown, Turn has expanded its barge transport services as well. We now offer shifting, towing and “last mile” services on both the Lower Mississippi River and all along the Gulf Coast while maintaining our core values and commitment to safety.

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Turn Guarantee

When you partner with Turn Services for your marine transportation needs, you can count on efficient, safe and environmentally responsible service from an unsurpassed staff of professionals. It’s what we call the Turn Guarantee.

Mission

To expeditiously meet our customers’ waterborne transportation needs while continuously striving to be a leader in safety and environmental stewardship.

Vision

To always embrace environmental, health, and safety objectives as core business values. To be a quality organization of innovators committed to opportunity and growth to continuously upgrade equipment, procedures, and systems to create value for our customers and employees.

Our Core Values