AZERBAIJAN EMPLOYERS CAN OPERATE KEEPING TO INTERNATIONAL STANDARD

SAGA SHIPREPAIR CO. EXPANDS HER ACTIVITIES TO KAZAKHSTAN AND RUSSIA

Sakin Abdulhuseyn Agayev, was born in 1963, engineer-naval architect, graduated from Odessa Navy Engineers Institute in 1985, graduated from special course of marketing and business in Turkey in 1991, director of "Sa"‡ G?mi T?miri "(SAGA Shiprepair Co.), and General director of Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan joint enterprise LLC SAGA ATASH.

SAGA Shiprepair Co. is one of Azerbaijanian enterprises which provides repair, modernization and building of vessels and other floating facilities on professional level. Our interlocutor is Sakin Agayev, director of the company.

Marine industry plays an important part in economical development of our country. There are about 600 items of vessels and other facilities in our Republic. And we would like to keep them at high technical level for the welfare of our country. And it is important that first of all we use potential possibilities of local companies and professionally skilled specialists of our Republic.

Caspian Integration Business Club members know your company very well. We would like you to give brief information about your company to the readers of CASPIAN ENERGY.

S. A.: The majority of the engineering personnel of our company consists of professionally qualified marine engineers. Each of them has many years of work experience in shiprepair, shipping and other enterprises directly linked with naval activity. In the main, our company operates with its own production means, it has own stand-alone shiprepair floating shop "SAGA-SERVICE". The floating shop is supplied with all modern equipment, tools and other facilities required in shiprepair works.

All work and important technological processes performed by SAGA Shiprepair Co is awarded by leading international classification societies' certificates. Our company has been the first to work out The Regulations to perform ship repair work and to archive recognition of the international classification societies as a privately owned shiprepair enterprise. SAGA Shiprepair Co is recognized by Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RMRS) and American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). Safety Control system of our company complies with international standard ISO 9002:1994 and certified by international classification society ABS.

C.E.: As we know, SAGA Shiprepair Co is the first Azerbaijan enterprise awarded by ABS to Certificate ISO 9002: 1994, isn't it?

S.A.: Today ship repair market of the Republic of Azerbaijan makes strict demands to a modern Subcontractor for safety and documental provision of the work. It becomes more difficult to any company or organization to get order from operators of ships and other floating facilities equipped in oil industry. Cost of work and services rise. Cost of certified spare parts and materials is extremely high. Under such conditions competition is acute. And only companies which have Quality system, approved procedures and forms, company policy in Quality and keep on principles of fair competition can proceed with activity and successfully participate and win in open tenders declared by ship operators and owners. We are related to such companies. We applied Quality Control System according to International Standard ISO 9002 from 2001. Our Company got an appropriate ABS certificate after the audit conducted by inspectors of international classification society finished in the beginning of 2002.. We can proudly say now that our company is the first to be awarded to such a prestigious certificate by ABS. It was a great progress of all Azerbaijanian employers. Our work demonstrated that Azerbaijan employers can operate according to international standards, and there are all conditions for this in our country. It's true that excellent conditions for business have been established in our country lately. Developing small and middle-scale enterprises, opening new jobss and as a consequence improving living standards of the people on the whole - all these are main trends of economic reforms implemented under the direction of President Heydar Aliyev of the Republic of Azerbaijan . And it has been the personal initiative of the President of Azerbaijan to meet the local and foreign employers and sign a number of significant decrees.

C.E.: We touched upon the problem of participation of local enterprises in tenders declared by international companies in oil & gas industry.

S.A.: Yes, we took part in a conference held on March 6, 2002, where all participants including M.Karimov, minister of Energy, N.Aliyev, president of SOCAR and D,Woodward, president of BP, spoke about the necessity of participating of local companies in promising projects of BP and Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC). It was emphasized that the President of the country had repeatedly set the task of participating of local companies in these projects. This is true that participation of Azerbaijan enterprises in the projects is beneficial and efficient for the republican economy from the point of view that our companies gain up-to-date experience of the developed countries, learn to work according to international standards and develop their material and technical basis. Although some officials prevent local companies from participating in tenders organized by international companies, there are many enterprises in our Republic able to perform the work of the projects.

C.E.: As we know, your company has won some tenders declared by international companies in oil and gas sector?

S.A.: Yes, our company has won some tenders and has performed the most difficult work requiring high proffesional engineering knowledge and training. Our company performed all underwater work during modernization of oil derrick Shelf-5 (Istiqlal) on BP's SHAH DENIZ project in 1997. Changing foreign companies' way of thinking, we proved that there are companies with big scientific potential and wide experience among companies who operate in the field of ship and other floating construction repair and even undertake entrepreneurship activities in our country.

Our company fabricated pontoons required for launching oil derricks. Gurtulush performed mounting on the place by the request of the Caspian Shipyard Company Ltd in 1999-2000. This order required high engineering professionalism and the most serious and strict demands too. Just imagine how this huge oil derrick weighing 8500 ton was launched on the pontoons designed and mounted on the place by our company. This order was performed under control of ABS Classification Society and as the result the Customer awarded a Reference Letter to our company for high quality work. In 2001, by the request of Caspian Geophysical LLC our company fabricated special pontoons required for BAKI vessel to sail from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea by Volga-Don canal, fixed them under the vessel and all the work wase performed within a short time.

Today personnel potential, technical resourses and experience gained in this sphere enables us to perform high level, more difficult and large-scale engineering work in shipping area. We have proved all said above many times by our work and foreign compnaies value all this and expect our participation in the tenders. Unfortunately, lately some directions of the local bodies hinder the participation of local companies in the tenders declared by foreign companies; they recommend the foreign companies not to invite the local ones to take part in their tenders. Possibly, they do it to provide a chance to companies pursueing their own interests. But these companies can't meet strict requirements of international companies up to the mark, and foreign companies usually win the tenders. Such cases undoubtedly have bad influence on the development of the local companies, cause decrease of the number of jobs in our country. We have reported all about it to superior bodies and hope that reepublican leaders will take reasonable steps shortly.

C.E.: The branches of your company appear to operate outside of our Republic?

S.A.: We often get offers about cooperation and building mutually beneficial business from companies of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. We have already received some of their proposals. We and AtyrauOzenPort have already established joint company AGA ATASH which is to start its activities in Aktau shortly. We work in this direction in Astrakhan too. We think that this work has a perspective and beneficial for both our company and our country. We hope that our work will represent both our company and our country to the best advantage in foreign countries too. Besides all above said, first of all we will work for intensive development, increase of financial and technical base of SAGA Shiprepair Co.

C.E.: What does your company plan for the future?

S.A.: Our company will celebrate its 10-th anniversary this year. We have done a good deal of work and are going to keep on. We constantly purchase new production means and upgrade technology. Our requirements to production personnel rise. We know that only high quality work based on procedures worked out can ensure stable living standard for us. We respect our outstanding competitors who base their work on regulations of modern technical standards and the most important - on the principles of open competition.