COVER STORY
The global spread of coronavirus brought unprecedented disruption to the business world As the economy continues to reel from the effects of the pandemic, companies are under more pressure than ever. Lifting Africa spoke to Stephanus Schoonbee, General Manager at AMS Lifting & Towing Systems (AMS LTS) to find out more about their plans going forward. AMS LTS commenced business in July 2014 as a division of African Maritime Services Namibia (AMS NAM) slowly building up a reputation as a reliable lifting service provider. In 2018 the company separated from AMS NAM and registered as AMS Lifting & Towing Systems (Pty) Ltd. According to Schoonbee, who owns 10% of the company, the other 90% is still owned by AMS NAM with Robert Whitehead serving as the Director of both companies. “We are proudly a 100% Namibian registered company with 100% Namibian shareholding,” says Schoonbee. Focusing on the supply of lifting and towing equipment and providing a range of specialised services to the oil and gas and general marine industries in particular it is a business that has gone from strength to strength. Few, however, could have predicted the outbreak of a global
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Lifting Africa - Mar/Apr 2022
pandemic and the subsequent quarantine policies that were instituted all over the world. “Covid had a very big impact on businesses, also in the lifting environment,” says Schoonbee. “It stalled many projects while in some cases, it brought projects to a complete halt. Especially our marine customers were heavily impacted by the pandemic.” Unprecedented and completely unexpected it was not always easy dealing with the situation. As lockdowns were instituted around the world business travel ended and remote working became the norm. “Covid had a significant adverse impact on our business,” says Schoonbee. “It was not easy and we had to find ways of dealing with it. Fortunately, we quickly learned how to make the best of a bad situation.” The AMS LTS team were, however, determined that the virus and its ongoing effects were not going to stop them
