State shipping company to get two sections of floating dock in coming weeks UPDATE)
By Aynur Jafarova
The Azerbaijan State Caspian Shipping Company plans to obtain two main sections of the floating dock by the end of July, head of the company Aydin Bashirov told journalists on July 6.
According to him, the length of the dock will be 160 meters and it will consist of six blocks. The construction of the dock is being carried out in the Russian Nizhny Novgorod city and will be completed before the end of the year.
Bashirov went on to say that a new towing vessel built in Turkey to order of the company will be sent to Baku from the Turkish port of Samsun within a week.
"The new vessel will operate to meet the needs of the State Caspian Shipping Company, and in case of an agreement, it will provide services to BP and other companies," Bashirov said.
Referring to the plans for the purchase of new vessels, Bashirov said that the company will consider buying new dry-cargo ships and tankers next year.
"Over the period of its activity the shipping company has achieved considerable results and in recent years ten new ships have peen purchased. Ferries, the number of which currently stands at 13, were also purchased," Bashirov said.
According to him, these ferries will contribute to the process of cargo transportation by the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.
The regional railway is being built in accordance with an inter-governmental agreement reached by Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The railway will increase the flow of containers and other types of cargo from Asia to Europe. Around 30 million tons of cargo a year are to be transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, which will become a direct route to the European rail network.
Bashirov also said the State Caspian Shipping Company expects a 15 percent increase in freight transportation volumes within a month.
He said the volume of freight traffic in the first half of 2013 remains at last year's level and the lack of growth is associated with a slight reduction in the volume of oil cargo transportation.
In the first half of 2012, the state shipping company increased shipments by 6 percent compared to the same period of 2011.
In January-June 2012, the company's ships transported 6.525 million tons of cargo, 4.015 million tons of which fell to tanker transportation, while 2.015 million tons accounted for ferry services and the remaining 0.495 million tons - for other vessels.
"However, an increase is projected in the transportation of oil consignments in the nearest future, which will have a positive impact on the total volume of goods transported by the company," Bashirov said.
Bashirov said further that the State Caspian Shipping Company has placed an order for construction of ten ships at the new shipyard which is currently being built in Baku's Garadagh district.
"In particular, the new shipyard will build five cargo ships and five tankers," Bashirov said.
Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR's new shipyard will meet the need for ships not only in Azerbaijan but also in the entire basin of the Caspian Sea. The first ship will be launched in 2013.
So far, all shipbuilding orders for the state shipping company have been placed at shipyards abroad.
According to Bashirov, negotiations on acquisition of vessels are currently underway with manufacturers in Turkey, Croatia and Russia.
"The first phase of the international seaport will be commissioned in the near future, and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will be put into operation next year, which will lead to an increase in traffic on this route. Accordingly, a number of new vessels meeting modern standards should be available in the shortest possible time," he said.
The area of the new shipyard will be 880,000 square meters, while the closed production area -- 75,000 square meters and the length of berths 1,300 meters. Investment in the construction of the plant amounts to $450 million.
The plant's production capacity is 25,000 tons of steel per year. It will be capable to produce annually four tankers with deadweight of 15,000 tons or two tankers with deadweight of 70,000 tons. Also, the plant is to produce four maintenance and towing vessels per year as well as provide repair for 80 to 100 vessels.
The activity of the State Caspian Shipping Company includes the transportation of cargo, in particular, petroleum and petroleum products. Areas of navigation are the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, the Meditterranean and the Sea of Marmara.
The consignments delivered to the Caspian Sea from the ports of the Baltic and Black Sea and Mediterranean basins through the Volga-Baltic waterway and the Volga-Don canal are sent to Iranian ports without unloading.
The ships of the Caspian Shipping Company operating in the Black Sea-Azov basin carry out the transportation of cargo of foreign freighters to the ports of Europe, Middle East and Northern Africa.
The company has purchased 10 tankers since 2002, notably, two tankers with deadweight of 8,000 tons, seven tankers with deadweight of 13,000 tons and one tanker with deadweight of 12,000 tons.
In 2008-2012, the company received six ferries for operation. All the ferries were built in the Uljanik shipyard of Croatia's Pula city.
Currently the transport fleet of the Caspian Shipping Company includes 82 vessels, including 43 tankers and 39 dry-cargo vessels, as well as seven railway ferries, two Ro-8 type vessels, six Ro-Ro type cargo vessels with 488,073 total deadweight.