GEORGIA: The arrival of the first container train on June 9 marked the official opening of the Poti TransTerminal multimodal terminal, which has been developed at the Black Sea port by international partners who intend to make it a key facility on the Middle Corridor route connecting China and Central Asia with Europe.
The terminal has an annual capacity of 80 000 TEU, with the potential to expand to 200 000 TEU. It has storage for 4 000 TEU, 3·3 km of railway track capable of accommodating up to 120 wagons and gantry cranes able to handle up to 50 containers/h.
The US$30m project was privately funded by investors from Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan, with construction undertaken by contractor China Railway 23rd Bureau Group.
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said ‘the development of the Trans-Caspian route, the construction and launch of new infrastructure facilities, including the terminal in Poti, holds strategic importance for our country. Kazakhstan is committed to strengthening its transit potential, diversifying routes, and becoming a reliable logistics bridge between east and west.’
Shareholder Mamuka Merkviladze said the terminal ‘will undoubtedly reshape the logistics landscape not only of Georgia but of the entire region’, adding ‘we have invested not only capital but also our belief in the region and its future as a key logistics link for Eurasia’.
Daniyar Abulgazin, shareholder in Kazakh company PTC Holding, said ‘Poti TransTerminal represents a symbol of a new logistics era. It wasn’t built on an existing base but from scratch. We invested, we took risks, and now we have the moral right to say: we believe in this route and in Kazakhstan’s strategic role in Eurasia.’
Bekmurat Naizabekov, Chairman of the management board of PTC Holding, said ‘we didn’t just build a facility. We launched the infrastructure of the future – sustainable and open to international co-operation. This terminal will become a focal point for cargo flows in the region.’
