As the grim war in Ukraine marches on, more and more maritime companies announce successful evacuation and refugee support plans for local staff.
ABC Maritime, however, a traditional, family-owned company based in Nyon by Lake Geneva, can arguably claim that it was one of the first to move, weeks before Russia actually invaded on 24 February.
“We’ve been planning the evacuation process since mid-January,” the company’s chief strategy officer Nikolas Theodorou told TradeWinds.
As a result, dozens of the company’s Odessa-based employees and their families are now safely ensconced in an apartment hotel in downtown Athens, and another in Poland.
“Everything had been arranged well ahead of time — Covid testing, medical coverage, even car insurance,” Theodorou added.
George Pitaoulis, the company’s director for personnel and development, personally bought satellite phones. They were later brought to Odessa to allow staff and crews to maintain contact with relatives and loved ones amid communication difficulties.
“It’s a veritable neighbourhood communication network we’ve set up,” Theodorou said.
All these early moves did not just support staff. They also made sure the company could cope with war upheaval, and adjust crew change plans.
This enviable prescience has a simple explanation. Ever since ABC Maritime was set up by Swiss businessman Hans Tanner in 1982, it has had its ear close to the ground in Ukraine — much closer than most maritime companies.
The company’s Odessa office had been operating as its own marine personnel recruitment hub, bypassing the need for local crewing agents.
This constituted a comparative advantage, said Theodorou. “If you want to pass oil majors’ demanding vetting, you need personnel that know ship systems and the company they’re working for like the back of their hands.”
Tanner’s work
The entire evacuation has been led and overseen by ABC Maritime’s chief executive Daniel Tanner, son of founder Hans Tanner.
Daniel began his career as an ordinary seaman in 2002. The Swiss businessman then moved onshore as a marine and safety officer.
The outfit employs about 2,500 captains, officers and seamen of more than 30 nationalities.
ABC Maritime today provides full-management services to a mixed fleet of 30 tankers and offshore vessels and has several other ships under crew management.
According to its website, the company has become one of the world’s leading providers of floating accommodation barges in West Africa.
It says it counts major oil, offshore and finance companies as strategic partners. In part, it owes its connections to its easy access to major trading houses, with many located close to its own Swiss office.
The Ukraine evacuation coincided with a move to set up offices in Athens. This marked the company’s 40th anniversary and adds to its existing network in West Africa, Ukraine and Singapore.
