Caspian Energy (CE): LV Shipping company has been operating since 1921, which means the company is marking its 100th anniversary. What path has the company been through and what is the recipe for the longevity of the transport business?
Fuad Mammadov: The origins of the company are as a family haulage and distribution provider based in Vlaardingen near Rotterdam, Holland. The early days were very straightforward and modest ,providing local services to clients in the local area. The company played a role in the reconstruction of Rotterdam following the devastation caused by the Second World War when there was a high demand for transport to move building and construction materials. The company developed logistic solutions, moving products and materials between the northern part of Europe within the trading block known as Benelux - An economic union of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, originally established as a customs union. Then, expanding contacts in Europe and linking them to the UK via our unaccompanied trailer service. Building on this experience, the company began to specialise on express transport, servicing the Oil & Gas industry and moving materials from Europe to the UK during the development of the North Sea oil and gas resources. This brought about the opportunity to open offices in the UK and many successful years undertaking major North Sea projects followed with further expansion in the UK and Norwegian market, combining oil and gas related logistic work with the more usual freight forwarding service on a national and global scale. Lead by the demand of clients, this eventually led to developing offices in the Far East; Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East, USA, Brazil and of course Azerbaijan and Georgia.
This continual steady development has been the result of looking after the needs of clients, supported by dedicated and knowledgeable staff, together with the ambition to continually improve and develop because we know that in our industry we cannot afford to stand still in any area. Therefore, the ability to quickly recognise, adapt and embrace change has enabled LV to stay relevant in today’s competitive and challenging environment and remains a strong part of our continued success.
CE: Much has changed in 100 years. Besides, built were new shipping channels in both Africa and South America, is there a need today to expand or build new shipping channels, such as the Trans-African or Trans-Asian?
Fuad Mammadov: Yes, all these areas remain very interesting and make up part of our activity in some way today with particular markets showing greater volume than others. Asia forms a very strong part of our interest along with other more mature markets, however Africa no doubt has many exciting opportunities to come. The Asian market in particular has seen some tremendous investment and development, most notably the introduction over recent years of a rail service linking China with Europe; part of our role of course is to make clients aware of all these developments on the basis that they can often add value to their own business.
CE: How did the situation with the coronavirus affect the competitiveness of your company?
Fuad Mammadov: The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 has been a threat to the health of everyone and put a great strain on the economy of every area of the world while the priority of taking care of people has been the focus of attention. Logistic companies like ours have played a role in keeping the supply chain running and supporting the care for people and the economy. This has been challenging because we want and need to keep all our staff and their families safe as our number one priority and this obviously remains the case. However, the opportunity to adapt to this and continue offering our logistic service as a key part of the supply chain has enabled us to remain financially safe. In this way it has not been a case of affecting our competitiveness but once again it has been a case of our teams ability to adapt to the changes and challenges the virus has brought about. In addition to this, and at a more practical level, the wider LV Group has played it’s part in the logistics challenge surrounding the pandemic by handling several air freight shipments of PPE.
CE: Which green technology programs is the company implementing?
Muhammad Rzayev: We follow international standards as much as possible, in this case the ISO standard ISO 14001 applies. All our fleet is compliant with EURO5 or EURO6 emission standards. We are shifting to digital documentation to minimize use of paper. Used paper is handed over to recycling companies.
CE: What types of fuel are most efficient for cargo transportation, in particular, hydrogen fuel cells or methane engines?
Muhammad Rzayev: This is a very big question with multiple answers all being studied and developed as we speak. We rely upon the vehicle manufactures to lead the way on this and as they do so we will adopt the innovations and solutions the vehicle manufacturers bring to market. Obviously we try and use the most up to date and efficient power sources available at this time. Recent years have seen the introduction of low Sulphur vessels and LV has played it’s part in explaining to clients the need for this, along with the resultant surcharges that the carriers make for such technological adaption of vessels.
CE: How successful is the company’s activity in the Caspian region?
Muhammad Rzayev: Measuring success has to be dealt with rationally and over the long term. It must be treated with respect and humility. Long term success is the culmination of many factors; some of which we have control of, like applied knowledge and experience, having a positive culture, good leadership and business related disciplines and structures that maintain sound finance, dedicated and well-motivated teams and above all good clients who find our services useful and relevant to their businesses. Also of influence in success is the external environment; the general economic and legal framework we operate within and the opportunities that present themselves in that environment. In our time operating in the Caspian region we have certainly experienced all of these vital ingredients and more while at the same time establishing ourselves as respected and influential members of the LV group globally. It is our aim to continue to strive for improvement in all we do, therefore the lite hearted answer to the question is, so far so good.
Finally, I would like to thank our staff and our clients for their loyalty and support as any success is theirs.
