GAC has marked ten years in Russia with its announcement of plans to develop enhanced marine services to support offshore energy projects in Russian waters.

Expansion and strength

The company opened its first office, in the key Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, in 2001 to attend to tankers at the newly opened CPC-R terminal, later extending its ship agency services to Sheskharis oil terminal and the dry cargo port of Novorossiysk. Offices in Moscow, St Petersburg, Murmansk and Taman followed, and today, the company employs 35 personnel and has attended to more than 2000 port calls.

Erland Ebbersten, the driving force behind establishing GAC’s presence in the Caspian and now Regional Vice President, Africa, Russia & Central Asia, says: “GAC’s expansion and strength in Russia today is the result of our ability to offer customised combinations of services to the offshore oil & gas industry, including ship and hub agency, safety & security, weather routing and ship-to-ship transfer. This, together with our own extensive fleet of vessels and crewing services for many different types of vessels over the past five years, has been the cornerstone of our success.”

Project cargo portfolio

Arkady Podkopaev, GAC Russia’s Managing Director, says the latest addition to the company’s portfolio of services is project cargo logistics for the energy sector operating in Russia shelf areas of the Black Sea, Caspian Sea and elsewhere.

This has included transportation of gas turbines from Italy to Uzbekistan via Turkmenistan, and pipes for offshore pipelines from Romania to Turkmenistan.

GAC Russia also arranges towage of foreign-flagged vessels and floating cargoes through Russian waterways such as the Volga Don Canal. Last year, GAC Russia arranged the transit of GAC’s own M/V GAC Pearl through Russia when the vessel was mobilized from Nigeria to Turkmenistan.

Tags: GAC Group