Georgian Economy Minister: Tbilisi dry port project signals “great potential” for Middle Corridor route

The project for Tbilisi dry port, an initiative involving construction of a multimodal inland terminal to serve rail and road container shipments, is set to start functioning by the end of the year in the Georgian capital with investments from the United Arab Emirates’ Abu Dhabi Ports Group, the Ministry of Economy said on Wednesday.

The Ministry said the Group had acquired a 60 percent stake in the facility and already injected $16 million into the project.

Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili and a delegation of the Group, led by Ahmed bin Ali Al Sayegh, the Minister of State of the UAE, attended the presentation of the project earlier today.

Davitashvili said the project signalled “great potential” for the Middle Corridor, a logistics route connecting Central Asia and China to Europe via the South Caucasus through Georgia.

The Ministry said the “modern intermodal logistics centre” would operate as an extension of the Batumi and Poti ports on the Black Sea, and would serve as a link between the production centres of West Asia and the consumer markets of Eastern Europe through the Middle Corridor, utilising the network of sea and dry ports in Georgia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Kazakhstan.

Located six kilometres from the Tbilisi International Airport in the Georgian capital city, on an area of 283,000 square metres, the port will feature class A and B warehouse spaces and have an annual capacity of up to 200,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit, the Ministry added.

Davitashvili underlined the growing relevance of the Corridor and “quality” investments being made in it.

Now exactly this kind of investment is being carried out, which aligns with our policy and priority of developing the Middle Corridor infrastructure to enhance its global competitiveness. The entry of professional operators into Georgia for this project sends a strong signal to cargo owners and other partners that this route has significant potential and is progressing well”, he said.

The Minister added economic cooperation with the UAE was a “top priority” for the Government.

Georgia is among the first countries to have signed a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement with the UAE, which is a significant foundation that will further strengthen our economic ties in the future”, he said.

Davitashvili noted transport and logistics were “one of [the Government’s] key economic priorities”, and highlighted a 10 percent increase in cargo shipments between the two countries “in just a few months of this year”, with around 0.5 million containers handled in their ports.