With decades of experience navigating Gulf waters, Captain Russell and Charlene Plaisance founded LA Carriers, LLC. Operating from Charlene’s beauty-shop office, Russell and his team hit the ground running. Through grit, skill, and unwavering commitment, Russell and Charlene built a steady foundation from the ground up—one vessel, one client, and one safe transit at a time.

They chose Cut Off for its strategic location between Bayou Lafourche and the Gulf Coast, giving them access to local clients and regional suppliers. The office was modest but well-situated on a busy stretch of road, with space for a reception area, a couple of offices, and a workshop for equipment maintenance. Owning the property provided stability and a visible presence in the community—important for building trust with customers in the close-knit coastal towns they served.

Russell and Charlene partnered with R&S Fabricators in Lockport, Louisiana to build the M/V Kaitlin Olivia — a tug designed to bridge capability and agility. The vessel is powerful enough to handle larger tows yet compact enough to navigate areas inaccessible to larger tugs.

Russell and Charlene partnered with R&S Fabricators of Lockport, Louisiana to build the M/V Lady Loren. Powered with larger engines, the Lady Loren was purpose-built to expand LA Carriers’ capabilities into the larger barge-towing market while retaining the draft and handling characteristics needed to operate safely and efficiently.

Russell and Charlene partnered with R&S Fabricators of Lockport, Louisiana to build the M/V Karen Koby. The new, larger vessel enables LA Carriers to remain diversified and to attract clients requiring larger tows, expanding the company’s capacity and market reach.

Russell and Charlene partnered with R&S Fabricators of Lockport, Louisiana to build the M/V Mon Ta. Named in honor of Russell’s mother, the M/V Mon Ta enabled LA Carriers to further diversify its assets and confidently enter the push-boat market.

Russell and Charlene decide to build a new office in Larose, Louisiana. Centrally located between Morgan City and New Orleans on the Intracoastal Waterway with over 1,000+ feet of dock space, this property continues to give LA Carriers the room it needs to grow.

The new Larose facility serves as a strategic hub for our Gulf Coast operations, improving access to key waterways and streamlining logistics between major ports. Thoughtful site design includes modern office space for operations and administration, secure outdoor storage, and improved vehicle and equipment staging areas to support increasing freight volumes.

This investment underscores LA Carriers’ commitment to long-term growth and service reliability. By situating the office at the heart of regional maritime activity, we strengthen our ability to respond to customer needs, expand service offerings, and support the community with new jobs and infrastructure improvements.

LA Carriers completes the acquisition of United Tugs, adding four, well-maintained vessels to our operational fleet. This strategic expansion strengthened our towing and anchor-handling capabilities and broadened the geographic coverage we can support across coastal and inland waterways.

With these additions we increased fleet capacity and operational redundancy, enabling faster response times and barge towing services.