Azerbaijan, Baku, 24 January / Trend corr S. Aliyev / In 2008, the Azerbaijan State Caspian Sea Shipping Company (CASPAR) will increase the volume of cargo transportations to 13mln tons, while in 2007 it was 10.2mln, the Azerbaijani Government reported on 24 January. Transportations will mainly increase via the Caspian basin.
In 2007, sea transport transported 10.2mln tons of different freights, a decrease of 24.7% from 2006. The drop was caused by decrease in transportation of transit cargoes. Oil and oil products comprised 61.5% of the transported cargo, dry cargo constituted 38.5%.
For the time being, the Azerbaijan State Caspian Sea Shipping Company includes 86 vessels, with 41 tankers (1 water-carrier), 35 dry cargo transporting vessels, and 10 service vessels. The fleet includes universal vessels Ро-Ро.