Our Story

OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Ship Captain William Burke Vane and his older brother, Allen P. Vane, come ashore in Baltimore to launch a ship chandlery named Vane Brothers. Their two-story brick building in Fell's Point becomes a one-stop shop, providing food and other supplies for working vessels docked in the area. The Vanes coordinate the time-consuming tasks of dealing with the butcher, baker, fishmonger, cooper, ironmonger, and even the post office. Vane Brothers stocks everything from foghorns and kerosene lanterns to bunk mattresses and pot-bellied coal stoves.

1898

ON TO PRATT STREET

The Vane Brothers business is doing well enough to warrant a move from Fell's Point to larger, more up-to-date quarters at 602 and 604 East Pratt Street, which is at the heart of the Inner Harbor and, by extension, the very center of the Baltimore shipping trade. From their vantage point, the Vane brothers have a clear view of vessels entering the deep-water port. The Customs House is just two blocks away, and a ship's agent who handles much of Captain Burke Vane's schooner affairs is even closer.

1910

REDMAN-VANE SHIPBUILDING

Vane Brothers begins branching out with the purchase of J.S. Beacham and Brothers Shipyard at the foot of Federal Hill. Together with their partner in the acquisition, John Carroll Redman, they launch the Redman-Vane Shipbuilding Company. Though specializing in sailing vessels, they also service steamers.

1917

MARRIED TO THE SEA?

A twist of fate brings a thirty-something mariner named Claude Venables Hughes into the business. Claude is courting a young woman who tells him, “What’s the use in getting married, you're never home.” So the sailor seeks advice from Captain William Burke Vane, a distant cousin of the Hugheses, and asks if Vane Brothers has any openings. As the story goes, Claude sells his boat and Eastern Shore property, gets married, and officially joins the company within a span of six months.

1920

HUGHES BROTHERS AT VANE

Claude Hughes convinces his younger brother, twenty-four-year-old Charles Fletcher Hughes Sr., to join the business. At the time, Charles Sr., who had just completed two years in the Air Corps, is planning to study law. But he is soon swept up in the speculative dealing that characterizes Captain William Burke Vane's entrepreneurial business style in the Baltimore shipping trade.

1921

SCHOONER PURCHASED

Charles Hughes Sr. is approached by a friend from the Eastern Shore, Captain William Jarrett, with an opportunity to purchase a share of the John R. P. Moore, a two-masted schooner. With Captain William Burke Vane’s endorsement, Charles secures a bank loan to finance the investment. In two years' time, the bank loan is repaid and the partnership and friendship between Captain Vane and the Hughes brothers is cemented.

1923

KOHLER JOINS FLEET

As Captain William Burke Vane endeavors to purchase and finance shares in schooners to support the Vane Brothers business, he takes on part ownership of the four-masted G. A. Kohler. A typical journey for the Kohler consists of loading coal in Virginia for transit to the Caribbean, and then sailing to a Haitian port to take on logwood, used in the production of dye. She remains in working order until 1933, when the schooner is beached on Cape Hatteras during a hurricane. Neither the Captain and his wife, nor the Kohler's eight crewmembers and ship's dog, are injured.

1929

WELCOME, DORIS HAMLIN

The four-masted schooner Doris Hamlin is purchased by Captain William Burke Vane. Among a group of undergraduate student charterers who sail on her the following year is L. Ron Hubbard, later to become the founder of the Church of Scientology. Eventually, the Hamlin takes over for the lost G. A. Kohler and sails on behalf of Vane for much of the decade. Sold to the Penn-Lehigh Coal Company in September 1939, the schooner and her crew are lost at sea four months later, presumably sunk by a German submarine.

1931

EMERGING FROM THE DEPRESSION

The company perseveres through the Great Depression despite losing ninety percent of its bank-held money. With the start of World War II, the chandlery becomes very busy once again, supplying not only U.S. Coast Guard vessels but also “picketboats,” which are private yachts commandeered to spy upon suspicious craft. (The Coast Guard foots the bill.) The small tanker Hughes Bros. is kept busy supplying galley oil to Liberty ships.

1939

WORLD WAR II

As the American military is drawn into World War II, significant changes also occur at Vane Brothers. Allen P. Vane passes away, and a few days later seventy-seven-year-old Captain William Burke Vane sells his remaining company shares to the Hughes brothers, Claude and Charles Sr. Captain Vane, however, continues to visit the chandlery and denies that he has retired.

1941

END OF REDMAN-VANE

The Redman-Vane shipyard, which performed wooden ship repairs for twenty-four years, becomes a casualty of World War II when the United States Navy condemns the area to allow for the expansion of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding repair plant. As the decade unfolds, the shipping world changes rapidly. Diesel fuel reigns supreme and sailing vessels used for commercial transportation are made obsolete. The chandlery no longer supplies schooners; its customers become tugboats, barges, tankers, and big bulk freighters.

1942

HUGHES JR. COMES ON BOARD

Charles Hughes Sr.'s son, Charles Jr., joins Vane Brothers after graduating from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in Philosophy. Claude Hughes retires at the age of sixty-four, having seen the company through the demise of sailing ships, a world war, and a sea of other changes during his thirty-one years with Vane.

1951

BACK TO FELL'S POINT

Charles Hughes Jr. convinces his father to move the company from the increasingly congested Inner Harbor back to Fell's Point. The new location at 916 South Broadway (next door to the building where Captain William Burke Vane and his brother Allen established their first shop at the turn of the century) offers more space. For the first time, Vane Brothers has its own dock from which vessels can be serviced directly. The Vane Brothers Company, with five employees on its roster, becomes incorporated.

1958

DIVERSIFICATION

Charles Hughes Jr. takes a second job with the Red Cap Ship Cleaning Company, supervising the cleaning of ships, holds, and storage tanks. He learns more about the various maritime industries in the Port of Baltimore and begins to look for ways to diversify Vane Brothers, recognizing that the company cannot survive solely as a chandlery. He focuses on the tanker trade, which is already successfully fueling ships in the harbor.

1960

DUFF ON THE DUFF

Vane Brothers commissions a 42,000-gallon tanker to gamble in the expanding gas oil business. Built at a cost of $80,000, the new motor tanker is christened Duff for Charles Duff Hughes, who is the son of Charles Jr. and his wife of 19 years, Elizabeth Anne “Betsy” Hughes. Aged thirteen at the time, Duff ships out as a galley boy on his namesake's maiden voyage.

1971

A NEW COMPANY PRESIDENT

Charles Hughes Jr. becomes Vane Brothers President. Rather than formally retire, Charles Sr. still works closely with his son, but is more often found “out in the garden” tending to a vegetable patch on a disused section of the company's pier.

1972

CAPTAIN RUSSI

Captain Norman Horstman retires after 49 years with Vane Brothers, but ready to take his place is Captain Russi Makujina, a master mariner with invaluable international experience. Captain Russi brings a clear vision of what commercial shipping can mean to the company. Seven years earlier, a longshoremen's strike left Captain Russi, his wife and two of his children stranded in the United States aboard the Pakistani passenger/cargo ship Ohrmazd. The Hugheses met the Makujinas and developed a close friendship. In 1972 the Makujinas (including a third child) immigrated to the United States under the sponsorship of the Hughes family.

1974

MOTOR TANKER ANNE

The motor tanker Anne, measuring thirty-nine feet long with a breadth of fifteen feet, is built for Vane Brothers and named for Anne Hughes DeCamps, the daughter of Charles Jr. and Betsy Hughes.

1979

NAVIGATING GROWTH

C. Duff Hughes, son of Charles Jr. and Betsy Hughes, joins the company as a junior partner and immediately sees an opportunity for growth and diversification in the marine fuel and transportation business. Though Vane Brothers motor tankers pump marine gas into vessels, they do not transport or supply marine lubricants, launch service, black oil, or potable water. It is Duff's early goal to consolidate all of these services.

1980

VANE LINE FUEL

C. Duff Hughes establishes Vane Line Fuel to expand fuel deliveries beyond the harbor. The division quickly grows to provide more than a million gallons of diesel fuel every month. One year later, Vane Brothers acquires the Marine Launch Company, a division of the Broadway Meat Company, for $437,000. Marine Launch controls local delivery service for marine lubricants. The acquisition adds two new vessels to the Vane fleet, the Willkate and the Carlyn.

1985

NEW HOME IN CANTON

Moving its headquarters from Fell's Point to Pier 11 in lower Canton, the fourteen employees of Vane Brothers find themselves now with 3,600 feet of deep-water berthing and 160,000 square feet of warehouse space on thirteen acres. The move commences a period of unprecedented growth, which includes the purchase of the company's first 15,000-barrel, double-hulled, black oil bunker barge.

1987

FIRST TUGBOAT, ELIZABETH ANNE

To complement its growth in barging, the company christens its first tugboat, the Elizabeth Anne, named for Vane Brothers Vice President Elizabeth Anne “Betsy” Hughes. Piloted by Captain James A. Demske, the tug transports Vane barges, thus reducing the need for outside tug charters. Through the early 1990s, additional tugs and barges continue to join the fleet. C. Duff Hughes, who becomes President of the company in 1991, also sees opportunities to develop and refine the bunker market in the Port of Philadelphia.

1990

EXPANSION ALONG EAST COAST

One year after becoming the company's President, C. Duff Hughes takes the same basic business model that contributed to Vane Brothers' success establishing a foothold in Philadelphia and exports it to Norfolk, Virginia, where he purchases the bunkering division of Allied Towing. This adds an 800-horsepower tugboat and two bunker barges to Vane's expanding fleet. Five years later, shortly after purchasing three pieces of Sun Transport equipment that allows Vane to diversify into the transportation of gasoline and other light oils in the Philadelphia market, Duff orchestrates the purchase of a second well-established, Norfolk-based marine transport company, Piney Point Transportation. Two tugboats and seven barges come with the deal.

1992

MARINE SAFETY

Vane Brothers Marine Safety and Services comes into existence as a direct descendant of the Vane Brothers Ship Chandlery. It starts out as a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life raft service and inspection station in Baltimore, and then expands two years later into Norfolk. Marine Safety offers sales and maintenance of marine gear for ships and pleasure craft all along the East Coast.

1993

CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY

Vane Brothers celebrates 100 years in the maritime industry with a huge Centennial Anniversary party held in September on Pier 11 in Baltimore's Canton neighborhood. The company, with an employee count now approaching 200, also releases the book, “Time and the Tide,” a centennial history of Vane Brothers. Even as the celebration goes on, the company is in the process of building two new 30,000-barrel barges to add to the fleet.

1998

BUILDINGS AND BARGES

Vane Brothers begins Phase I of a massive construction project to move the company’s headquarters from Pier 11 in Canton to Baltimore's Fairfield community. Meanwhile, as part of Vane’s new vessel construction program, JeffBoat is contracted to build two 52,000-barrel, double-skin tank barges for coastal and inland services. One barge is earmarked for heavy fuel oil products and the other for light oil products.

2001

FAIRFIELD HEADQUARTERS

On October 17, construction of Vane Brothers' beautiful new Baltimore headquarters is completed on the site of the former American Dredging facility in Fairfield. This allows for consolidation of all of Vane's far-flung operations, with a major pier available to dock marine equipment; a deep-water slip; warehouse space for lubes; a climate-controlled raft room for Vane Brothers Marine Safety and Services; a machine shop for topside and mechanical repairs; and office space for Operations, IT, Purchasing, Marketing, and Administration. The new building is a testament to the growth and expansion experienced since the company's last move in 1987. The employee count stands at 222.

2003

PATAPSCO CLASS

As the christening of the 4,200-horsepower tugboat Patapsco and 50,000-barrel barge Double Skin 55 takes place on June 26, the two vessels are viewed as timely symbols of the modern, technologically advanced fleet Vane Brothers is building. Three more Patapsco Class tugboats soon take shape at Thoma-Sea Boat Builders, with one, the Chesapeake, coming in at a slightly more powerful 5,000 horsepower. Design and construction of the first of six 30,000-barrel barges gets underway at the Trinity Marine Industries yard.

2004

AT/B EXCITEMENT

Vane Brothers' first articulated tug and barge (AT/B) unit is welcomed during a Grande Celebration at the company's Baltimore headquarters in June. The tug Brandywine and barge Double Skin 141 lead the way in Vane's sustained fleet reconstruction project. A second AT/B is slated for delivery by the end of the year. While Vane's fleet now consists of 32 tugs, 43 barges, one motor tanker and two launches, the company's employee count stands at 438. A web-based Scheduling and Integrated Logistics System (SAIL) is utilized to manage Vane's complex business on a level of efficiency undreamed of in the past. A new Fleet Integrated Maintenance System (FIMS) is also implemented to report, track, and resolve corrective maintenance issues for the rapidly expanding fleet.

2007

MARYLAND-BUILT TUGS

The tugboat Sassafras, delivered in November by Chesapeake Shipbuilding of Salisbury, Maryland, is the first tugboat built in the state in more than 30 years and the first ocean service tug constructed in the state in more than a half-century. Within a decade, the number of Sassafras Class tugboats in Vane Brothers fleet reaches fourteen.

2008

NY AND SC EXPANSION

Expansion occurs in two directions: To the north, Vane Brothers opens bunkering operations in New York Harbor. To the south, the company enters Charleston, South Carolina. A tally of new equipment that has joined Vane's fleet since the turn of the century shows fourteen 50,000-barrel barges; fourteen 4,200-horsepower tugboats; twelve 30,000-barrel barges; twelve 3,000-horsepower tugs; and two 140,000-barrel articulated tug and barge (AT/B) units.

2010

100 PERCENT DOUBLE HULLED

On June 18, Vane Brothers' last single-skin tank barge, the VB-38, is officially retired, signaling the company's transition to a 100 percent double-hulled fleet, three years ahead of the deadline imposed throughout the industry as part of the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990.

2012

FLEET ACQUISITIONS

Vane Brothers acquires the Chatham-Colonial Towing Company's fleet of ship bunkering equipment that serves Charleston, Savannah, and Jacksonville. Vane also takes on four tugboats and five barges from the Kirby Corporation in New York Harbor, and four vessels from a Kirby-owned subsidiary in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, the company enters into contracts for the delivery of nine new barges: four 50,000-barrel barges from Jeffboat and five 30,000-barrel barges from Conrad Shipyard. All nine barges will have the flexibility to switch between heavy oil and light oil service, per customer needs.

2013

ACADEMY TRIBUTES

The 3,000-horsepower tugboats Kings Point and Fort Schuyler are delivered, making them Vane Brothers' tenth and eleventh Sassafras Class vessels contracted through Chesapeake Shipbuilding of Salisbury, Maryland. Both tugs are named for maritime academies: the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and SUNY Maritime, respectively. The following year, a new contract is signed with Chesapeake Shipbuilding for three more 3,000-horsepower tugboats. Vane also welcomes its first purpose-built asphalt barge, the 55,000-barrel Double Skin 509A, via Conrad Shipyard, which is soon contracted to build three 80,000-barrel articulated tug and barge (AT/B) units, as well as another 55,000-barrel asphalt barge.

2015

THE NEXT ELIZABETH ANNE

The Elizabeth Anne, the second Vane Brothers tugboat to be named for Vice President Elizabeth Anne “Betsy” Hughes, joins the fleet as the first in a series of eight 4,200-horsepower tugboats to be constructed by St. Johns Ship Building in Palatka, Florida. (The previous Elizabeth Anne, acquired in 1990, was donated in 2014 to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy for use as a training vessel.) More than fifty tugboats and eighty barges are now spread out among seven Vane locations from New York to Florida. In Norfolk, where Vane Brothers has operated since 1992, Vane Brothers opens a new Paradise Creek facility that allows the company to consolidate Virginia-based Fleet Operations, Warehousing, and Marine Safety and Services under one roof. Vane President C. Duff Hughes is inducted into the International Maritime Hall of Fame.

2016

WESTWARD, HO!

Already with well-established operations along the U.S. East and Gulf coasts, Vane Brothers heads west. Crews navigate the company's tugs, barges and articulated tug/barge (AT/B) units through the Panama Canal in order to begin providing ship-bunkering and dock-to-dock transfer services in the Pacific Northwest (Puget Sound), as well as Los Angeles/Long Beach and San Francisco.

2018

NORTH BORDER EXPANSION

The tug New York and asphalt barge Double Skin 509A become the first Vane Brothers vessels to operate in the Great Lakes Region, with stops in both the United States and Canada.

2020