Captain Ade Puspitaloka knew, aged 10, she wanted to captain a ship. Today at 25 she is the first, and only, female tug master in the Middle East’s biggest and busiest port - DP World’s Jebel Ali.
Ade began her sea career on tankers before joining P&O Maritime as a trainee and completing her Tug Master qualifications in 2019. She confesses to loving piloting with the latest Azimuth Stern Drive technology and describes, beautifully, the precision required to manoeuvre smaller boats in her care: “it requires patience and I have to be extra careful. When we touch the ship, we have to do it as gently as possible, as if we were touching a baby.”
