ASCO welcomes new tugboat to Caspian fleet

Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Co (ASCO) has taken delivery of its latest newbuild tugboat to assist with handling and docking vessels in the Caspian Sea. Azykh is the fifth tugboat built at the Zigh ship repair and construction yard in Azerbaijan and has an overall length of 25 m, accommodation for seven crew members, a beam of around 7 m and a navigation draught of just 1.6 m, enabling it operate in shallow water.

In addition to vessel manoeuvring, this ASCO Engineering-designed tugboat has a full speed of 9 knots and is capable of carrying up to 3 tonnes of cargo on its deck.

Previous vessels of the same type built by the shipyard for the Azerbaijani owner include 2023-built ASCO 1, Terterchay, Hekarichay and 2024-built Bargushadchay. Another vessel from this series is under construction with completion expected later this year, with more in this newbuilding campaign to follow.

At the end of 2024, another ASCO tug and supply vessel, Lankaran, took part in ecological research of the seabed around the Absheron gas-condensate field in the Caspian Sea. This vessel operated continuously under dynamic positioning from 22 November to 22 December 2024 to collect samples of seawater and sedimentary rocks from water depths of 20 m to 60 m at 85 predetermined co-ordinates.

The collected samples, obtained using special equipment installed on the vessel, were sent to laboratories for analysis at the request of Greenwich Consulting Azerbaijan, which is assessing the environmental conditions before contructing subsea oil and gas production infrastructure in the Caspian Sea.