Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.10
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Caspian Marine Services Limited (CMS), which operates a fleet of offshore marine support vessels, serving the offshore oil and gas exploration and production industry, is in talks with ADNOC company of the United Arab Emirates to enter the Persian Gulf, Zamig Ismayilov, Director of CMS told Trend.
“We intend to enter the Persian Gulf with our high-speed passenger vessels. If the talks are successful, we will start operating in the Persian Gulf with one vessel and then increase their number. ADNOC has proposed CMS to work for several projects operated by the company. We will be engaged purely in passenger transportation. We plan to charter our first vessel by mid-2020,” he said.
Moreover, Ismayilov noted that the company is holding talks with Saudi Aramco as well.
Talking about the ongoing cooperation with Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, the general director noted that currently, two CMS passenger vessels are working for SOCAR.
“One of the vessels works for SOCAR AQS and two others is used for transporting goods and employees of SOCAR. Sometimes, our massive Gurban Abbasov vessel works for SOCAR for 4-10 days in a month,” he said.
Ismayilov also talked about the existing fleet of Caspian Marine Services.
“Currently, our fleet consists of 38 units, including large and small vessels. We have 150-seat and 54-seat passenger vessels, as well as five tankers, with the capacity of 13,000 tons (the largest capacity in the Caspian Sea). We also have three general cargo vessels,” he added.
The Azerbaijan Branch of CMS started its operations in Azerbaijan in the early 2006, the offices were located in Baku as the capital city and main shipping center of Azerbaijan. The same year CMS formed a strategic Alliance with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR). As a member of the Alliance, CMS were granted access to all maritime facilities and fleet of vessels controlled by SOCAR. In early 2014 following a restructuring of the shipping industry in Azerbaijan, CMS has formed a strategic alliance with the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company.
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