A Century of Excellence

In 1919, Francis H. Weeks and his son Richard B. Weeks embarked on a moneymaking opportunity to launch a business handling bunker coal and dry ballast. The father and son team quickly assembled two floating cranes in the thriving Port of New York, beginning what would become the Weeks Stevedoring Company. 


After Francis H. passed away, Richard B. brought his two sons Ted and Dick into the business. The sons had their own ideas and developed a strategy to expand into other lines of marine-based work outside of stevedoring, including wreck removal, dredging, and construction. 


In the 1950s and 1960s, Weeks acquired new equipment to service customers within its expanding markets. Over the next decade, the Weeks business continued to increase proportionally to its growing fleet. 


Dick’s son, Richard S. Weeks, joined the company full time in 1977. In the years that followed, Weeks proceeded to expand dramatically through a series of acquisitions—M.P. Howlett, Healy Tibbitts, American Dredging, T.L. James/Gulf Coast Trailing, and McNally International. All the while, Weeks has stood at the ready, whether responding to the crises of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill, Superstorm Sandy, the recovery of the Flight 1549 fuselage, or in moving icons such as the Space Shuttle Enterprise and the Concorde supersonic jet. 


It is a remarkable accomplishment for any company to reach its 100th anniversary. It is even more remarkable for a company to mark such a milestone while remaining completely family-owned. CEO Richard S. Weeks attributes Weeks Marine’s success and longevity to its dedicated employees, its suppliers, its community, and the customers who have made the company’s storied legacy possible. 


This enhanced eBook features video links and embedded audio quotes from executives, retirees, and key stakeholders who were interviewed during the research for this book.