From what I heard, Kiewit wanted the construction side, tunneling co. and some other assets, but not the dredging division. The Weeks boys (I worked for GCT and got bought by Weeks when the old man still ran the show, he was a multi millionaire who looked like Joe shit the ragman!) were only going to sell as a package deal. So Kiewit doesn’t have the infrastructure to run a ship company, and it looks like they have no interest in doing so.
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Thought you would like to know. They are keeping the R.B. and the Magdalen. They have no intention of selling these 2 new dredgers.
Why anyone would build not only one but 2 brand new dredges that can’t even bid on the Mississippi river contracts completely baffles me. The New Orleans district gets the most funding of any district in the country, but a one arm dredge cannot bid on the river. Now I completely understand the facility in a one arm dredge, and completely agree with it, BUT if you can’t bid the river you lose out on 1/4 of all dredging funds available.
But thanks for your insight on the new management!
What are Manson’s plans with their aging fleet? Are we going to see more layoffs from dredging companies in the next few years?
Well, Manson (like everyone else) is building new tonnage. The Newport & Bayport are aging, but we just put the Newport thru a major shipyard and the Bayport just got the West Coast Hopper contract. I don’t see either boat being scrapped/sold anytime in the near/medium future, it will have to be ABS or USCG regulatory that does them in, and Manson has no problem spending money on shipyards. Funny, I’m showing my age thinking that my boat (the Glenn Edwards) is the “new” boat at 17 years old! Dredge years are the inverse of dog years, and 17 is not old for a well maintained dredge.
The sale/layoff of the RN Weeks & BE Lindholm came as a complete surprise to me. It reflects a really poor understanding of the industry. When Weeks bought Gulf Coast Trailings (I was a mate on the Lindholm, it was called the Ouachita back then) they wanted to INSURE that the crew came with the vessel. They did sell the Mermentau to a Columbian firm and that crew was laid off, but the vessels Weeks wanted they wanted crewed. How is any company going to shit out a fully trained dredge crew upon purchase?? It’s just a bad business decision.
Dredging funds are 99% government funds from the COE, the level of dredging has remained stable and grown over the last 5-10 years with major port expansions & deepening. I think dredging will remain stable as it has in my 25+ year career, the Weeks/Kiewit is an aberration, much like the Dutra Stuyvesant/Columbia buyout several years ago.
The Columbia was my first Captains job, now THAT was an old POS dredge! But I loved every minute of it 
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Thank you, that was a well thought out and insightful response. I was taken by surprise (partially) as well. Unfortunately I had only been with Weeks for a year, I’m a mate so I was let go. I enjoyed dredging, the ship handling, hands on work, and schedule are hard to beat. I sent a resume to Juan Valdez but haven’t heard too much back. I’m sure you guys are flooded with resumes at the moment.
Yea, we just hired Emily M. & Brandon S., but keep pinging Juan as we will likely still need a couple mates once the new boat comes on line. Plus we have a couple Capt’s retiring at the end of the year, and that will open up some spots.
Pay attention to the sale of the the RN & BE, as whoever buys them is now going to be faced with crewing them. The fact that Kiewit would sell them on the US markets (to there direct competitors) is another sure sign of no understanding of the dredging industry…
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I heard the BE and RN are being offered on foreign markets. Thank you for the information, I appreciate it. As for me, I’ll keep trying, but I’ve also accepted a job on ATBs. A slightly longer schedule but comparable pay and benefits. With a mortgage to pay and kid on the way I cant afford to sit around. I’m just lucky I have a decade of experience and other endorsements on my license.
You may already have enough. The sea time requirements for AB were just (temporarily) reduced by one-half.
Yea, I have enough for Special now, 28 days shy of Limited. Still have to take Lifeboatman though. Supposed to start with Dann Marine Towing next Monday as OS. What is your opinion on taking Lifeboatman and AB National course online? In case I can’t do it through the company.
Captain,
I was curious what the rotation at Manson is for the Hopper dredges. Is it 21/21? I believe I heard that somewhere but cannot confirm. Is it the same rotation for all vessels in the Manson Fleet?
You can’t take all of Lifeboatman on line. There’s a practical component that can’t be done on-line or simulated. You could get the practical signed off on a vessel and take a course for the Lifeboatman exam, but there are extremely few of those courses and I don’t know if any are on line.
AB courses are only for the written exam, you can’t do that at a company, but you could oo it an REC. You need to decide if a week long course ($$$) is better for you than gong to a REC and taking the exam. I don’t know if any AB courses are on-line, and if any are, you probably need to go to the school in person for the exam.
Yes, it’s 21/21 and we do a smaller crewchange each week (6 crew usually). I really like that as you work with more people and it shut’s down the Blue Team - Gold Team dynamic I have seen with larger crewchanges.
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This is the one I had been thinking about. I called the school and they have two Captains that they use to sign off on the practical. It seems legit to me but wanted to see what you think since you are highly knowledgeable on the subject
Thank you! I did a similar schedule when I worked in the gulf. I enjoyed it. It did get tricky working for two captains at times though. But it was a good experience working with a changing crew.
One final question, it may seem silly but do you guys earn PTO or shore leave?
I appreciate you taking the time to answer! Not a lot of info about now the crews work from Manson website.
Yes,
The crews earn vacation time. 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 days according to years with the company. I can’t recall how many years are associated with each step, but it’s 4 days after 1 year. You can save it for 2 years, and cash it out or take the time. We try to keep some floaters for that purpose. The company is pretty good about taking time off once you are established with the company.
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Thank you, that sounds like an amazing work life balance! Appreciate the through response!
I worked for Cashman and Trinity. They were two of the worst jobs I ever had.
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I feel your pain. When working as a lawyer, we had Jay and Jamie start throwing hands at each other in our conference room.
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Trinity Management is the worst company I have ever worked for by a LONG shot!
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