I am a mate considering work with Weeks Marine aboard a dredge. What is the Good/bad/ugly of working with weeks?
I’m a Captain with Manson, but worked for Weeks years ago (they bought Gulf Coast Trailings, the company I was employed with). Weeks just got bought by Kiewit but the dredging management is still the same. We have hired several Mate’s over the last few months as we are building a new dredge (So isn’t Weeks). No horrible stories from the new guys, we just pay more (3rd Mate pays $770/day). If you want to be a dredge boater, ANY company is a good place to start. You will find it MUCH easier to move within the dredging industry if you have dredging experience. With the newbuild and turnover you will have a good chance at advancement. With dredging you need to learn the gear and dredging ops from a deck level. A good dredge mate should be able to rebuild a dredge pump with just a couple of AB’s. So many mate’s think they just drive the boat, that does not make you valuable, being able to dragtend and work on the gear makes you valuable.