BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Baku International Sea Trade Port (BISTP) has ordered Baku Shipyard and Damen Shipyards Gorinchem B.V. to speed up the building of the dredge vessel "CSD 650" so it can be commissioned in early 2025 instead of late 2025, an informed source in BISTP told Trend exclusively.
"We have acted as a customer for the construction of such a vessel (professionally called "dredger"). It will be used for dredging works in Alat (the main territory of BISTP), as well as being used throughout the Caspian Sea area," the source emphasized.
Meanwhile, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between Baku Shipyard and Damen Shipyards Gorinchem B.V. in June 2023, and a contract for the construction of the dredger has been implemented since October 12, 2023.
Furthermore, the dredging vessel also prepares Azerbaijani ports to accommodate vessels with a draft of more than 6–8 meters, such as 8,000-ton Caspian Sea tankers.
Due to the shoaling of the Caspian Sea, the process of receiving such vessels is currently facing difficulties.
Therefore, modern "dredgers" are required, for example, of the "CSD 650" type with a powerful bucket and other technological nuances, since such a specialized vessel will have to extract hard clay and sand in the Caspian waters.
"We are also discussing with the shipyard the expediency of building shallow draft ships for the Caspian Sea so that the Caspian countries will have a larger fleet, which will increase cargo transportation," the source said.
To note, the Chairman of the Board of Baku Shipyard Elshad Nuriyev told Trend earlier that the company has signed contracts and orders to build ships for different purposes until 2030.
Among the clients are Caspian Shipping Company and SOCAR in addition to BISTP.
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