At a Glance
- A prominent Middle Eastern shipping and logistics provider sought to internalise all commercial, operational, financial, and ship management activities.
- Prior operations were outsourced, with limited service scope and geographical reach.
- Within a period, Renoir supported the client in becoming fully operational at the point of handover, ensuring readiness, compliance, and control.
- This case study examines how Renoir successfully enabled the client to achieve ambitious transformation goals while meeting ISO certification and financial performance benchmarks.
Key results
100% compliance in customer invoicing by year-end.
95% monthly invoicing compliance post-handover.
Achieved 92% compliance with ADP's excellence standards in just seven months.
Successfully audited and certified for ISO 9001, 45001, and 14001.
Background
The Middle East occupies a pivotal location at the intersection of Asia, Europe, and Africa, commanding critical maritime chokepoints, including the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz. This strategic positioning facilitates seamless global trade connectivity, ensuring efficient transit between key international markets. As a result, the region serves as a vital and indispensable hub for commerce and logistics.
The client is a vital entity within the Abu Dhabi Ports Group, operating as a regional leader in maritime logistics. With 32 vessels spanning the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, China, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean, the client supports both regional and international trade flows. Uniquely, it collaborates with all major global container shipping firms, reinforcing its strategic relevance. Initially established to provide limited feeder services, the company was positioned at the centre of an aggressive expansion strategy, aiming to evolve into a globally competitive, multi-service maritime operator.
Analysis
At the outset of the engagement, the client was operating as a modest-scale feeder services provider, offering limited trade route coverage with a fleet of seven vessels. Crucially, the management of its core functions, including commercial, operational, and financial activities, was outsourced to an external entity. This arrangement, while sufficient for the client’s initial scope, offered little flexibility or control, creating dependency and limited transparency over strategic operations.
The landscape changed significantly when the client was designated by its parent group as a central pillar in the development of a world-class logistics and trade ecosystem in Abu Dhabi.
The new mandate entailed several transformative objectives:
- Operational Autonomy: Migrating all operational, commercial, financial, HSEQ, and ship management functions in-house within an accelerated timeline of five months.
- Fleet Expansion: A significant increase in vessel count to support growing demand and enable broader capacity utilisation.
- Service Diversification: Moving beyond containerised cargo to include dry bulk and tanker operations, introducing new operational complexities and regulatory requirements.
- Geographic Growth: Expanding commercial coverage to a wider set of regional and international routes, increasing the need for advanced logistical coordination and dynamic routing strategies.
- Governance and Compliance Pressures: The client needed to establish and implement quality, environmental, and occupational health and safety management systems to prepare for ISO 9001, 45001, and 14001 certifications within a limited timeframe.
To meet these demands and mitigate execution risk, the client engaged Renoir to lead the transition to its future operating model. Renoir’s mandate was to enable full operational readiness, build governance structures, and instill process excellence.
Project Approach
Renoir initiated the project with a Project Definition Phase. This involved breaking down the deliverables into workstreams, prioritising the activities based on urgency and completing a detailed activity plan. This made the interdependencies, workload assessment and critical paths clear.
Key components of the approach included:
- Formation of a Transformation Management Office (TMO) to oversee all critical areas.
- Deployment of a project management control system to track progress, resource allocation, and interdependencies.
- Inclusion of key internal stakeholders and Renoir consultants in a joint delivery team, ensuring ownership and knowledge transfer.
- Weekly progress reviews, accountability structures, and continuous senior leadership engagement for rapid resolution of blockers.
“We could not have done it without Renoir.”
— Chief Financial Officer
Optimise Subcontractor Management and Progress Tracking
Vendor management saves healthcare centre $12 million
Ready for a change in your organisation?
“Renoir was absolutely critical to our business and systems integration and defining corporate governance, processes and procedures and implementing productivity enhancement in the business.”
— Director of Projects
Implementation
Execution followed a phased approach focused on mission-critical deliverables:Â
Processes & Operations: Every core and support process were mapped, risks identified, responsibilities allocated, and KPIs defined.Â
Systems Readiness: Critical operational systems were integrated into the client’s IT landscape. Adjustments were made to meet process needs, with comprehensive training rolled out.Â
Organisational Design: Job descriptions, roles, and a competency matrix were established. Recruitment and onboarding followed a structured short-interval control system.Â
Excellence & Certification: Preparatory steps were taken to meet ISO requirements. Stakeholder maps, continuity plans, and benchmarking were embedded.Â
Performance Control: Management Control Systems (MCS) were installed across operations and commercial divisions, enabling data-driven decision-making.Â
Customer Invoicing: Short interval controls ensured smooth invoicing cycles. Process bottlenecks were removed, system SLAs introduced, and financial accuracy improved.Â
Results
The Renoir-client partnership yielded impactful and lasting outcomes:
Within the time-bound initiative, the client achieved full operational readiness. All critical systems and processes were functioning, and fleet management transitioned seamlessly in-house.
- Invoicing performance improved dramatically—monthly closure occurred with minimal accruals, and 100% compliance was achieved by year-end.
- The client was successfully audited and received ISO 9001, 45001, and 14001 certifications within six months of taking operational control.
- Process control and performance governance systems laid the foundation for scalable, compliant, and efficient growth.
- Organisational resilience was enhanced with clear structures, role definitions, and resource alignment.
The transformation not only met its deadlines but also laid the groundwork for further growth, agility, and a competitive advantage in a dynamic regional maritime landscape.
*Client details have been omitted to maintain confidentiality.
Â
Are you equipped to achieve full operational readiness?
