Integrated energy maritime logistics operator with more than 340 vessels owned and over 600 operated and chartered: crude and product tankers, LNG and LPG carriers, dry bulk, offshore support vessels and jack-up barges.
I completed a contract through Denmax for ADNOC. A recruitment fee was charged. The offered salary was higher than at other companies, and overall my experience was fine.
Denmax recently placed me as a Chief Engineer with ADNOC. I have been working there for two months, and everything has been excellent.
I worked on a VLCC there and stayed for a contract. My impression was that non-Arab crew members were treated as inferior, while Arab personnel were treated as superior. A superintendent also described a similar experience to me and eventually left after trying to sign off a motorman and then having to look for another job.
I worked there in 2011–2012, when the company was still called ADNATCO. It was a permanent contract, and the company tried to keep crew at sea longer and give them less time at home. Salaries were above market for junior officers and very good for senior officers, with no delays—the money was credited before the end of the current month. Supplies were adequate and the food was ordinary; internet, a monthly welfare allowance, and a gym were available on board. Career progression was slow, and officers were required to attend dinner in uniform with their epaulettes.
I applied for a position with ADNOC through a crewing agency. The interview process included a short interview followed by a very demanding session with a captain-instructor, who required exact, word-for-word answers about vessel certificates, gas detectors, and office inspections. I did not pass, and four other captains who were interviewed afterward also failed. The company itself may be good, but the selection process was excessively difficult in my experience.
Pay is the draw: juniors earn above the market, seniors about at it. The fleet is the price — old Moss steamers whose condition reflects years of minimal upkeep and minimal supply; provisions vary ship to ship. Two Chinese-built newbuildings arrive this year with more to follow, which may change things. The working culture is permissive: you plan your own work and nobody chases you — which cuts both ways, because it is also why the ships look as they do. My take: worth it for a junior because of the pay; for a senior, think twice.
The fleet doubled in 2020–21 and this year four LNG-powered dual-fuel VLCCs were taken over, so the company is clearly growing. The sore point is pay: the 2019 salary cut was never rolled back, and people remember it. Connectivity is good — VSAT is available essentially for free beyond the official 5 GB.