ASHLAND — His friends and his co-workers at McGinnis Inc. know him by his nickname — Cheesy.

But it’s his given name — James Allen Ward III — that’s about to become widely known at Ohio and Mississippi River ports from Pittsburgh to New Orleans.

That’s because it’s emblazoned, in shortened form, on the newest addition to McGinnis’ river fleet.

The South Point-based company on Saturday had a christening ceremony at the Ashland boat ramp for the Motor Vessel J.A. Ward, the first towboat that McGinnis has built in more than 20 years.

Ward, of South Point, who has worked for McGinnis since 1978, oversaw the construction of the $3.5 million vessel.

“I want to thank McGinnis Inc. for naming this new towboat after me,” Ward, the company’s supervisor of new boat construction, told the crowd at the christening ceremony. “It’s truly an honor to my family and me.”

Ward’s wife, Tanya, got the honor of smashing a bottle of champagne across the bow of the 75-foot-by-27-foot craft. It took her two attempts to get it to break.

Tanya Ward also got a little blowback when the bottle shattered.

“I’m soaked!” she exclaimed.

Commander Kevin Kiefer of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Huntington Marine Safety Unit presented the towboat’s captain, Buck Nix, with the vessel’s American flag.

“May every voyage be a safe one as you proudly fly Old Glory from the towboat J.A. Ward,” Kiefer said.

The Rev. Ike Nicholson, pastor of Ashland’s First Christian Church, said a blessing for the boat and also presented Nix with the vessel’s official Bible.

The J.A. Ward is the first towboat that McGinnis has constructed since 1986, said Rick Griffith, the company’s president. It will be based in Cincinnati and will be manned by a crew of 16, eight of whom will work aboard the vessel at any given time.

Construction of the boat began in the spring of 2006. As the work progressed and it began to come together, “you could really see the pride in peoples’ eyes. It was almost like watching a child grow up,” said Bruce McGinnis, the company’s chief executive officer.

“We built this boat from scratch,” he said. “We didn’t have a blueprint on it.”

However, McGinnis said the J.A. Ward, the 32nd boat built by McGinnis, would serve as a prototype for the two or three additional towboats the company plans to construct.

“We’re going to build them and see how the market plays out,” he said.

The J.A. Ward is a line haul style of vessel that will be used to move a wide range of products, from coal and iron ore to grain and fertilizer, McGinnis said.

In addition to South Point, McGinnis has shipyards in St. Louis, Paducah, New Orleans and Cincinnati.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.