Azerbaijan expands its fleet in international waters

/By Azernews/

By Fatma Babayeva

Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company (ACSC) announced that the company will buy six vessels for the operation in the Black and Mediterranean Seas.

Three vessels will be handed over to the shipping company on April 11, while the remaining three by late April, the report says. The vessels’ deadweight amounts to 5,500 tons.

New vessels each designed in Russia are similar to the type of those procured in 2014: Natavan and Uzeyir Hajibeyov ships.

The task of transforming the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company into a modern company which meets international standards have made fleet placement, as well as increasing the number of vessels used in the Black and Mediterranean Seas an inevitable process.

Currently, personal of the vessels are being decided. The Azerbaijani sailors are able to adequately represent the country in foreign waters, said the JSC.

The company further reported that the repair of several foreign ships has been planned in 2016 as well. Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company has the most powerful ship repair base in the region.

It recently renovated the tugboat Shirin belonging to Turkmenistan. Hull of the ship has been cleaned and painted, mechanisms and screw steering gear have been repaired as a part of the provided maintenance work.

Repair of the two other vessels- Turkmen Soltan and Bossan tugboats are almost finished and they will be also delivered to the customer soon. These vessels were raised to the docks of the Zig dockyard for the renovation.

Caspian Shipping Company ‘s merchant fleet consists of 98 vessels: 34 tankers, 13 ferries, 14 universal dry-cargo, 2 Ro-Ro ships as well as 35 different auxiliary ships at the moment.

And the offshore support fleet is comprised of 188 vessels including 21 crane vessels, 22 supply and tug vessels, 29 passenger ships, 2 pipe-lay barges, 7 firefighting vessels, 5 geological survey vessels, 11 diving support vessels, and 84 other support vessels, based on the data provided by the company.