Azerbaijan starts construction of container ships ordered by AD Ports Group

BAKU. March 4 (Interfax) - Baku Shipyard LLC has started building two container ships with a capacity of 780 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers in accordance with a contract it signed with AD Ports Group of the UAE, the company said in a statement.

"The steel-cutting ceremony, which took place on March 2, 2026, marked the official launch of production work. According to the approved technical specifications, each vessel will be 149.5 meters in length, 21 meters in breadth, 8.6 meters high and with a draft of 4.5 meters. The vessels have a combined cargo capacity of 780 TEU," the statement reads.

Baku Shipyard said that this contract was the first order it had received from AD Ports Group.

Baku Shipyard and AD Ports Group signed a contract on the construction of two container ships to be used in operations in the Caspian Sea on September 16, 2025. The construction work for the two container ships at Baku Shipyard is scheduled for full completion in 2028.

The Azerbaijan Transport and Communication Holding (AZCON), part of Baku Shipyard LLC, said that these vessels would play an important role in reinforcing the Middle Corridor of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), which joins together Asia and Europe via the Caspian Sea, the Southern Caucasus and the Black Sea.

On March 19, 2010, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev laid the foundation stone for the Baku Shipyard, and on May 10, 2011, Baku Shipyard LLC was set up as a joint venture between the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) and the Azerbaijan Investment Company. The shipyard opened on September 20, 2013.

The company's main activities include constructing auxiliary vessels, general-purpose vessels, tugboats, crane vessels, specialized vessels, passenger vessels, and tankers. The shipyard also repairs and refits ships.

AD Ports Group, formerly Abu Dhabi Ports Company, is a port, industrial and logistics operator.