RS has signed a five-year contract with the Turkish ship owner to provide a range of classification services and “statutory surveys of ships” on 49 vessels - oil tankers, chemical carriers and dry bulkers among them - to a total deadweight of 380,000 tonnes. The average fleet age is nine years.
Oil tankers capable of river-sea navigation have been built for Palmali under previous RS survey. With no flash point limit and the maintenance of the cargo temperature at 50 degree Celsius, this allows the simultaneous transportation of three types of cargo including crude and diesel oil and gasoline, RS says.
“This event is significant as [a] demonstration of confidence in the Register from one of the world’s leading operators. Signing of the agreements is considered by RS as an extension of our strategic co-operation,” RS director general Kostantin Palnikov said.
The Palmali Group of Companies was established in Turkey in 1998, starting out providing agency services for vessels passing through the Bosphorus and Dardanelle Straits. It soon spotted a gap in the market and today operates a fleet in excess of 100 vessels with capacity from 2,000 to 165,000 dwt.
Palmali Shipping Company has now shifted its strategic goal to participating in the global transportation market after establishing itself within Russian inner ports, the Black, Mediterranean, Caspian and Baltic Seas.
Operations are controlled from Palmali Shipping Company’s corporate HQ in Istanbul. The company also operates satellite offices in Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Astrakhan, Moscow, Odessa, Piraeus, Thessaloniki, Baku, Bourgas, Constanta, Malta, Novorosiysk, St Petersburg, Ceyhan, Poti, Geneva, Singapore and İzmir.
