International freight-forwarding and project cargo expert UTC Overseas, Inc. continues the steady growth of its global network with the opening of offices in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani office will be managed by Elnur Mammadov, an experienced veteran in project cargo forwarding and logistics, who has served as UTC's Azerbaijan-region field representative since July of 2010.

Mammadov is a graduate of the Azerbaijan University of Foreign Languages and has additional certification in customs clearances, import/export procedures, and transportation cost-management. He is fluent in Azeri, Russian, Turkish and English. Over the past decade, he has provided on-site project management services for shipments in power generation and distribution - including wind farms - and oil and gas production and refining.

'The Azerbaijani economy is strong,' Mammadov notes, 'with major investments underway in oil and gas ' including construction of a new gas pipeline from Azerbaijan to Europe -- set to go online in 2016. Regional projects are being developed for power generation, construction, and agriculture. Additional regional plans include major infrastructure construction, cement plants, highways, and mining. Our location between Europe and Asia makes us an important transit route for cargoes moving to and through neighboring countries as well.

'Many of these projects are located in areas with limited infrastructure, which increases the transport logistics challenges. However we have two assets for water deliveries of heavy and over-sized shipments. The first is the Volga-Don River channel with 13 locks providing sea/river vessel access between the Caspian and the open ocean from April to October of each year. The second is a new multipurpose international seaport, about 70 kilometers south of Baku on the Caspian, which will provide year-round service for ro-ro, project, containerized, and bulk petroleum cargoes moving along the East/West transit corridor. This facility, which will have links to major rail routes throughout the CIS, will open in phases between 2014 and 2017, and will be the most advanced port in the region.'

UTC Overseas Opens New Azerbajan Offices

'UTC Overseas' wide-ranging global experience is particularly vital in this region because few local firms have the skills, experience and resources these specialized shipments demand. It is a natural process for UTC Overseas to open this new company office serving Azerbaijan as well as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.'

Turkish-born Project Manager Oktay Bayramcavus, based in UTC's Houston main office, is the worldwide services liaison for the newest addition to the company's global office network. 'The Baku facility is well suited to our needs and those of our customers,' he observes. 'Azerbaijan as a country is rich in natural resources, its economy is booming and it is blessed with a well-educated population. It is ideally located for service to the entire Caspian Basin.'

The addition of the Azerbaijani office continues the expansion of UTC Overseas Inc.'s Project Division global office network. In 2009, the company named Istv'n Cs'p'n, as its Hungarian Country Manager with additional sales and development responsibilities for Eastern Regional countries including the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia and Poland.

'The addition of the Baku office further extends our eastern Europe and Balkan coverage,' Cs'p'n observed. 'It also provides our existing offices additional on-site resources and local expertise in these regions to better coordinate services for our customers worldwide.'