Adonai Business Services B.V.

Crewed up

Adonai Business Services B.V. is a crewing agency, based in the Dutch port of Rotterdam. Established in 2000, the business operates primarily in the North Sea, but is also active in the rapidly increasing West-African offshore sector, with offices located in Ghana to meet the expected demands within this area.

Adonai provides services that range from filling individual crew positions, to the supply of complete crews and the business also offers customers a broad range of training services in specialised areas. Adonai’s long-standing knowledge of the market is the basis for its ideology, which is to provide highly trained personnel and deliver outstanding customer service at all times. The organisation is dedicated to serving its clients and crew as best it can to ensure satisfaction of customers and staff alike.

For many years Adonai has been sending crews across the world and is active on the Dutch, British and Norwegian continental shelves. The company offers its services to both large and small shipping companies, supplying suitable crews depending on the client’s requirements. The crew selection process is carried out according to stringent guidelines and based on the company’s knowledge of the market. Adonai’s aim is to always supply highly qualified personnel of all ranks; from AB’s, Coxwain’s and AMA’s, to engineers, officers, and captains. Crew manager, Christel Dowuona Owoo elaborates on the business: “The company has grown and expanded over the past eight years to supply specialised crew for offshore customers, which are primarily shipping companies. Our two main services are the supply of crew and shipping, both of which are in the offshore sector, which is our chief focus.

We also have clients within the merchant navy, but our main business is in the offshore industry. We have steady crew, dedicated to their work and qualified for the specific challenges of the offshore trade.”

Major new developments for the group include the purchase of a new offshore vessel, as Christel explains: “The name of the ship is Shalom I; we acquired her earlier this year under the branch, Adonai Shipping B.V. which is a sister company of Adonai Business Services BV. The vessel has already been involved in standby work for years but we will now use her to carry out mainly guard and chase work at oil rigs and around seismic vessels. She is primarily operational on the Dutch shelf but she is also involved in projects in Norway and England.”

The business is also expanding into the West African market, through its office in Ghana. Christel explains: “We are currently focusing a lot of activity on the up-and-coming market in Ghana, where the industry is preparing for a boom period in the offshore sector. From our Ghanaian office, we’re able to supply crew and vessels to surrounding countries, such as Angola. We already have people working in this area, but we are aiming to expand the amount of crew in Africa in the near future. The business has a strong relationship with the Maritime Academy in Ghana, and this is advantageous in recruiting and developing a quality crew. We make frequent visits to it to see how they are getting along and then when we need new cadets for training, they are very adept at selecting the best people for us.”

Adonai attributes its successful expansion to the quality of the services and crew it provides. Christel comments: “One of the main factors that separates us from the competition is the reliability of our crew, as it is their responsibility alone to complete the work onboard a particular vessel to a satisfactory level. The crew’s efficiency in their work allows the ship owners to focus on delivering their services to other companies. Another key strength of the business is the way we deal with shipping companies on an operational level, giving us hands-on experience of the industry and practices. We aim to work closely with clients to develop solutions and we make sure our full range of services is available when required. For many customers, we supply the whole crew for a vessel and we also include the crew planning process for projects of this ilk.”

Another key strength lies in making sure its crew is fully trained and experienced in working on offshore vessels, as Christel explains: “We aim for extremely high standards in everything we do; in particular, the training of our crew is a significant part of the 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. Similarly, 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. We keep our clients constantly informed and aware of the training processes that the crew are undertaking; this sharing of information aids mutual development. We have excellent levels of communication between our employees and clients, and as a result, we have a respectful and open culture at Adonai.”

Christel is confident the key attributes of the company will take it into the future: “We see a bright outlook for Adonai, as we have good contacts with offshore companies, with whom we have permanent and fixed term contracts. We don’t just supply the crew to these companies; we actually offer a total service. Our customers can always rely on us, which means that our business relationship endures and we can establish a long-standing rapport with the client. We have appointments and upcoming projects going into the far future, even in the shipping segment, although we only entered into it earlier this year. We are particularly optimistic about the market in Ghana, because we can take our knowledge and experience over to this escalating area. Soon they’ll be carrying out standby jobs in this area and we want to be there ready to seize these opportunities when they arise.”

Adonai Business Services BV

Services Supply of shipping crews and marine offshore vessels