Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan's state shipping company Caspar intends to purchase 10-11 new vessels by 2011, its head Aydin Bashirov has said.
At a news conference on Friday, he said the company plans to buy four ferry boats, with one to be delivered early next year.
The vessels, being purchased to carry out foreign companies' orders on transporting oil products, will be of the double-deck type, in line with international standards. Bashirov said financial assistance of the Azerbaijani government, and if necessary, loans could be used to finance the purchase.
The company currently has 75 transportation and 34 technical support vessels.
Bashirov went on to say that the company's cargo transportation volume dwindled 28% this year compared to the first ten months of 2006. 8.4m tons of consignments were transported in January-October, including 5.2m tons by tankers, 2.1m tons by ferries and 1.1m tons by dry cargo transport.
Bashirov explained the reduction by the fact that along with Caspar, private companies are operating in the field. At the same, he said cargo owners tend to favor his company.
"A great number of private companies are entering the market. But the cargo owners realize that it is difficult to work with private companies," he added.