The Bridgeport and Port Jefferson Steamboat Co. has promoted four senior managers as part of a leadership reorganization, President Brian Buckley McAllister announced.
Frederick A. Hall has been promoted to chief operating officer. Capt. James McGuire will take over the role of vice president and general manager. Capt. Bruce Topalian was promoted to port captain. Capt. Stephen Schmitt will now be assistant port captain.
Founded in 1883, the Bridgeport and Port Jefferson Steamboat Co. operates year-round ferry service between Bridgeport, Conn., and Port Jefferson, N.Y., transporting about 500,000 vehicles annually. It is a division of McAllister Towing and Transportation.
Hall was promoted from vice president and general manager to chief operating officer. With the company for 50 years, he has held a variety of operational and management positions. Following the acquisition of the company by the late Capt. Brian McAllister in 1983, Hall helped oversee the expansion of the service from a seasonal, single-vessel operation to a year-round operation with a four-vessel fleet. Most recently, he oversaw the construction and delivery of the Long Island and the construction of two office buildings in Port Jefferson.
McGuire has been promoted to vice president and general manager. Beginning as a dock hand, he has worked for the Bridgeport and Port Jefferson Steamboat Co. and McAllister Towing for 31 years. Throughout his career with the company, he advanced through the ranks to ordinary seaman, able-bodied seaman, mate, and captain, earning his master’s license in 1999.
McGuire graduated from SUNY Maritime College in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in meteorology and oceanography and holds a master’s degree in transportation. He serves on PVA’s Safety and Security Committee.
Promoted to port captain, Topalian has been with the company for 38 years, serving as an ordinary seaman, able-bodied seaman, mate, and captain. As port captain, he will oversee the company’s 10 ferry captains and serve as the primary liaison with the U.S. Coast Guard on vessel safety and inspection matters. Topalian holds master’s licenses for self-propelled vessels and towing vessels, as well as a radar endorsement, and is CPR certified.
Beginning his 39-year career with the company as a dock hand, Schmitt advanced to ordinary seaman, able-bodied seaman, mate, and captain. He has been promoted to assistant port captain and will assist with vessel safety, inspections and regulatory compliance in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard and help oversee the company’s ferry captains.
In 2022, Bridgeport Hospital recognized Schmitt and his crew for their response to a passenger who suffered cardiac arrest aboard one of the company’s vessels. The crew used an automated external defibrillator to revive the passenger before returning the vessel to port, where emergency medical personnel were waiting.