Dutch logistics company eyeing Azerbaijani market

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 16

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

The Dutch logistics service company Royal Wagenborg is considering the possibility of entering the Azerbaijani market, Fabio Giurato, director of the company's branch in Kazakhstan, said in an exclusive interview with Trend May 16.

Giurato is visiting Baku at an invitation from Giovanni Bella, head of the Italian logistics company Bella Giovanni Shipping & Trading SRL, which operates in the Azerbaijani market.

Giurato said Wagenborg is willing to expand its presence in the Caspian Sea region, which, since 1998, is mostly related to the sea's northern part.

"We believe that combining the expertise of our several divisions operating worldwide, including the shipping division operating 180 cargo vessels, offshore division operating supply vessels, anchor handling tugs, barges and others, we can support the Azerbaijani industry with the state-of-the-art equipment and turnkey solutions," he explained.

"In this very moment we are just exploring the market through meetings with local operators in order to identify, in the short term, the most adequate business development strategy," noted Giurato. "Indeed we recognize the potential that the Azerbaijani market represents for Royal Wagenborg Group."

He also said the company is already partially working with Azerbaijan in the field of shipping.

"We worked for [the Dutch company] Boskalis in Azerbaijan for few months at the Shah Deniz project with our shallow draft tug Kasymborg," said Giurato. "We often send our units to shipyards in Azerbaijan for dry docking and upgrading works. We recently installed spud-poles on our flat-top barge WB107 at Azerbaijan's Baku Shipyard shipbuilding plant."

Giurato also noted that Royal Wagenborg is interested in fostering its relations with Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR.

"We are looking with interest to the Alat free-trade zone as one of the most interesting opportunity to develop our shipping activity in the Caspian Sea through our modern fleet of cargo vessels," he added.

Wagenborg is a 100-percent family owned company with its head office in Delfzijl, the Netherlands.

As of today, Royal Wagenborg is one of the largest Dutch shipping companies.

Edited by EA

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