When taking a look back at 2020, it was a very exciting and challenging but also a successful year for dteq. It started on a positive note with new business opportunities, before suddenly everything stopped at the beginning of March when the first of many lockdowns were put into place due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nothing was as it had been before. All our engineers, who normally travel around 50 percent of their time, were forced to stay at home. Thankfully, all colleagues could be mobilized back home early enough, so that none got stuck overseas.
With travel restrictions and countries closing their borders, in combination with local lockdowns, it took months to get a visa (if possible) instead of receiving it upon arrival. This meant our business was strongly hit, since many of our services require travel activities.
Nevertheless, instead of sitting at home, staring sadly at a cup of coffee and stirring the same with an airline spoon (how did it get in the drawer with the cutlery?) in sweet memory of crowded airports and full planes with no space to relax, we started working on contingencies and determined where, how and under which circumstances and precautions dteq could continue to perform business, including traveling.
Once this was evaluated, itinerary planning could start, with travel by car currently considered one of the safest means to travel in regard to COVID-19. Also, the quarantines affected our business to a crucial extent, since colleagues being quarantined could not travel to another job.
Last, the measures of the client for their site as well as measures by any other party involved, such as stakeholders or ports, had to be checked in advance, with care and in close contact with the respective QHSES department.
With travel being very restricted, we started additionally to build up a strategic network of external subcontractors. To provide the well-known dteq quality, all external subcontractors were checked in view of their qualifications and references in detail. In addition to the checks, we provided specific online training to the third parties, to ensure our high level of quality and the operational excellence we strive for.
We are proud that even in these challenging times, dteq could still perform travel-related services such as loading and discharge surveys, including Marine Warranty Surveys, route surveys, job site supervision and many more. In the end, we could perform jobs worldwide and all of our clients were satisfied with our services. At this stage, a big “thank you very much” to our clients and partners who made this possible!
The year 2020 was still a success for us due to the fact that we could find tailor-made solutions for our clients and that we have such a great team working hand in hand to overcome challenges with high flexibility and hard work. We are proud that we could win new clients even in these difficult times, and due to the ongoing high demand of our services, we even hired additional staff during the pandemic in 2020.
We are looking forward to a successful year 2021.