Adonai Business Services
Turning the crew
Located in the busy European Port of Rotterdam, Adonai Business Services has strengthened its position as one of the dominant providers of crew-based services to ship-owners and operators.
The business has clients in both the merchant navy and the offshore industry, and can provide services ranging from filling individual crew positions, to the supply of complete crews. Equally, Adonai can offer customers a large range of training services in specialised areas, and all of the company’s personnel are highly qualified and competent at every level. Operating primarily in the North Sea, the organisation is also active in the burgeoning African offshore sector, and has offices located in Ghana to meet the expected demands within this area. After launching in early 2000, the company has expanded its services to allow it to operate around the clock.
Crew manager Dowuona Owoo expands on the solutions Adonai provides: “We offer our services to both the merchant navy and offshore companies. The business has grown and expanded over the 
past seven years to supply specialised crew for offshore customers, primarily shipping companies. We have steady crew, dedicated to their work and qualified for the specific challenges of the offshore trade, which we supply at all levels, from ABs, Coxwains and AMAs, to engineers, officers, and captains. Adonai is active in all areas of the North Sea, and we have crew from nations all over the world. Over the years, the company has developed in two main areas – Ghana and Indonesia.
“A big client of Adonai is Vroon Offshore Services, as well as GloMar Ship Management – this organisation is relatively new, but is already a significant player in the offshore industry,” Dowuona explains. “The amount of crew required often depends on the type of offshore company using our services. Some businesses require complete crew management services for their vessels, meaning we organise everything down to completing a schedule. Sometimes a partial or whole crew is needed; at other times a company may just require a captain or specialised engineer. The organisation is really focusing now on the offshore sector, and we are thinking of expanding into providing crew services not just on vessels, but on oil rigs as well.”
Making sure its crew is fully trained and experienced in working on offshore vessels is very important to Adonai, as Dowuona comments: “We aim for extremely high standards in everything we do. Training of the crew is a significant part of our business, and is especially important within the offshore sector. Within the merchant navy, everybody goes through standardised training procedures, and it is mainly the crew’s responsibility in completing this training. However, it is very different in the offshore industry, particularly concerning the type of crew needed for the specific work to be completed. Equally, the offshore market requires specialised training so that the crew is able to fully complete its duties onboard. It takes a lot of time and effort to organise these training schedules, and doing this takes a lot of pressure off the shipping companies. Our clients are constantly kept informed and aware of the training processes being undertaken, which aids mutual development. We have excellent levels of communication between our employees and clients. As a result of this, we have a respectful and open culture at the business.
“Health and safety is obviously very important within all our practices, but with the offshore industry, it is of particular concern,” she continues. “Projects must be completed to a certain quality level, but first of all they must be safe. Our crew must look after not only their own safety, but also the safety of crews on other vessels and oil rigs in the area. This feature of our operations is 
something that must be focused on continually. Over the past few years, the demands being placed upon the crew have required the extensive training of the entire staff. On both the Dutch and British side of the North Sea, a smaller crew was needed on vessels, but as demand has increased, so has the amount of crew – despite this, I feel we are ready for the future.”
The company’s range of services aims at meeting the demands of the growing offshore sector. Dowuona outlines the expansion: “At the moment, the offshore sector is very strong, and there are plenty of opportunities to expand. However, the market being good at the moment is not enough, and we must constantly strive to maintain and improve our services. Our aim is to be a continual provider to the offshore industry over a long period, particularly in the North Sea, but also in other areas. There are many emerging companies that will develop over time, and we aim at providing the services they may need in the future.
“Equally, our presence in Nigeria is relatively unique, as this remains a largely untapped global offshore market. A large part of our crew is from Ghana, and this puts Adonai in pole position to deal with the demands of the Nigerian market. We already have people working in this area, but we aim at expanding the amount of crew located in Africa in the near future. We have an office located in Ghana that can deal with the emerging oil and gas fields in this area and we frequently travel there to ensure that the crew is working at the standards that we expect. The business has a strong relationship with the Maritime Academy in Ghana, and this is advantageous in developing a quality crew. The Academy is preparing for a boom period in the offshore sector in Ghana.”
Dowuona continues by elaborating on the features that make the company unique: “One of the main factors that separates us from the competition is the reliability of our crew, as it is down to them to complete the work onboard a particular vessel. The crew’s capabilities allow the ship-owners to focus on delivering their services to other companies. We deal with shipping companies on an operational level, which gives us hands-on experience of the industry and practices. We value working closely with clients to develop solutions, and make sure our full range of services are being utilised when required. We even arrange specialised training in the UK or other countries should this be needed. For many customers, we supply the whole crew for a vessel, and we include the crew planning process for projects of this ilk.”
Dowuona concludes by reiterating her vision for the business in the near future: “I think Adonai will grow in both the North Sea and West Africa, both rapidly and on a scale not witnessed before. In West Africa, we believe we are able to draw on our resources in Ghana to meet the demands of the developing energy fields.”
Adonai Business Services
Industry: Crew services