Is there anyone out there who is or has worked for Hornbeck Offshore?

[studbuzzar]

I am looking to gather a little bit of information on life working with them. Any replys would be greatly appreciated.

[jgoody85]

I currently work for them. i have my 3rds engineers license with some good seatime and they have me out as a QMED till i finish a test booklet (new procedure for newhires). Pretty good company with good benefits as well. Is there any specs you want to know?

[jgoody85]

rotations onboard range from 28-14, 21-21, 28-28.

[capitan1962]

I have worked there. They are a solid company, pretty strict in their rules that are set forth. Almost like the military, good equipment, benefits are decent (they get better the longer you are there). Pay is good depending on what position and endorsements you have. Hire on process takes the better part of a week. The only thing I found that was not all that great was the living conditions of the vessels. The boats are built with large capacities of mud, fuel, water, cargo, ect. but very little effort was put into making the crew comfortable. Pretty much everybody has to share a room except the lead captain. Also the older boats are pretty rough riding. Haven't been on one of the newer ones but if you are a new hire you will most likely wind up on one of the 190's, 13 bunks in 6 rooms with close to that many people onboard. Those boats will throw you out of your bunk. If you get on one of the 200's (the Old Sea Mar Boats) they are comfortable and ride great.

[water]

Congratulations on finding work in the oil patch, studbuzzar. I followed your wake down the bayou last week, traveling from Golden Meadow to Galveston. Although I was unable to find anything at the 100 T level, I'm getting to be on a first name basis with the HR people. Hopefully things will start turning around before too long.

[RkyMtn Paul]

You guys are spoiled. In 1990 as a deckhand, I made $95(if memory serves), and they wanted 90/30. Boats were 150'. I lasted 30 days. Capt and mate were father/son from Minn and were a-holes.

[studbuzzar]

1986 worked as AB on 190ft Supply boat. Longest hitch I pulled was 14 weeks followed by 2 weeks off. I only did that once! By the time I got off the boat my legs were hurting so bad I could hardly walk.
Heck I could even understand that crazy ass standby boat captain who had been out there for about 6 months. I never will forget his eyes and that beard! They still got guys working on standby boats? That job is not one I would ever try.

[LOSTinFOURCHON]

190' supply boat in 1986 must have been the one of the Kodiak boats.

[studbuzzar]

No it was with Pelham Marine out of Houma. We had I believe 16 boats. It may have been 180 ft. My memory is a little rusty. I remember the pay was $75 per day. That was $20 more than what I was making working tugs.

I do remember the Kodiak boats, the first time I saw one of them. Light green and white if my memory is correct. They were definitly over 200 plus feet!

[tugboat146]

Supply boats or the Tug boat division? and what position?

[capitan1962]

190' supply boat in 1986 must have been the one of the Kodiak boats.

There were some 190's back then. Usually the anchor boats were 190's such as the Matagorda Island, and the Acadian diesel electric boats were about that big.

[tugboat146]

There were some 190's back then. Usually the anchor boats were 190's such as the Matagorda Island, and the Acadian diesel electric boats were about that big.

Those were not the old Hornbeck boats,,All the old boats were named after race horses...I was there at that time up to when they sold out to Tidewater

[capitanahn]

I have worked there. They are a solid company, pretty strict in their rules that are set forth. Almost like the military, good equipment, benefits are decent (they get better the longer you are there). Pay is good depending on what position and endorsements you have. Hire on process takes the better part of a week.

I applied for temp job on the Oil Spill boats there, it will be the same length of time to get a call?

[Nginear]

I have been with Hornbeck since 2003. I've worked GOM, International, and now in their specialty fleet. Captain1962 is pretty close on his description that they are strict on their rules. They are paperwork driven. The benefits are great. Pay is very good though they are not the highest paying company out there. The hiring process is more like a month than a week depending on who is working in HR.

Living conditions vary.

190ft worst ride,
200ft (old candy fleet) Great riding boats, just
200ft (sea mar) good rides
240ED alright ride the only people that double up are ab's
250EDs bigger living spaces, about the same ride as a 240ED

They have bigger boats than these. But these are the ones most people will spend time on

Any other questions you might have?

[rsoirez]

How is the turnover at Hornbeck???? Im relatively a new captain, have most of my time on liftboats, how does Hornbeck look at their new hires, experience, certs, ect.????

[Nginear]

How is the turnover at Hornbeck???? Im relatively a new captain, have most of my time on liftboats, how does Hornbeck look at their new hires, experience, certs, ect.????

Turnover isn't too bad. I would say it is inline with any other company maybe even lower. Like I've said I've been here for 7 years now and know many others that have been here just as long I have or longer.

New hires come in and usually will get an assistant spot, second/ third Captain for example. So they can be observed. I'm not gonna say getting thrown into a lead spot won't happen, because I've seen that too.
But if you can come in and adapt to the paperwork and policies then you should be fine. I think the ones that do have problems are the ones that blow off the paperwork or live in the " well at so and so company we did it this way".

As far as new hire pay goes, everything is based on a template. There is a base amount for your position. Then there are different categories with each category being broken down into tiers. For example, your license category is 4 tiers with $50/day(I'm guessing) difference from tier 1 to 4.

So you could have 15 yrs experience, but someone with 8 yrs could make more that you because they have more things on their template. Make sense?

[rsoirez]

thanks for the info Nginear. My company is selling out, so i am thinking about jumping away from liftboats and being able to upgrade my license faster, bc on liftboats i only get one day for every three days worked, really sucks.... Just trying to find a great company to work for with decent pay and benefits.......What is everyone's take on GOL??? Anyone work for them???

[panhandlemariner]

I dont know what Hornbeck you guys work for? I have been here since 2003 on the TTB fleet and they are steadily going down hill!
No 401K Matching, High Insurance with high deductibles and co-pay, 3 year vesting for insulting bonus, does NOT pay for training, no raise in 5 YEARS!!! Yet the CO's get millions in bonuses, micro- managing, so much paperwork if you did it all you would never really start the actual job, WAY top heavy on chiefs and not enough Indians. We hire ex- coast guard guys in the training dept. , what training dept. we have laid off half the fleet? I have been here for 8 years and it has gone down hill every year getting worn than the previous! I would highly recommend finding employment elsewhere. They will tell you one thing to your face and stab you in the back when you turn around! It was at one time a very good company to be employed by. Look at the other comments in order by date, they get worse and worse as time goes by.