Poti, Georgia (Ports Europe) January 30, 2023 – APM Terminal Poti is in final negotiations with the government for an agreed expansion of the Black Sea port, according to Ian Rollinson, the Chief Financial Officer of APM Terminal Poti.
The company plans to invest around $250 million and has been in talks with the government for several years.
On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. International sanctions were imposed on Russia and most western international shippers stopped working in Russian ports. Moscow exports to Europe have virtually ended. Russia responded by implementing a new trade strategy, re-orientating trade towards Asia and away from Europe.
Various ports around the Black and Caspian Seas have seen increased traffic. This is driven by both Russia and by other countries trying to avoid Russia!
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February, cargo handling has increased at Poti port, increasing the demand for further capacity. Poti seeks an increased role in the Middle Corridor, a transport corridor linking the Far East and Europe.
Rollinson also called for better co-ordination between ports and railways strategy. This is not just an issue for Poti, but for all regional plans for developing intermodal transport corridors. By definition, such intermodal services require rail and port services which can handle roughly the same amount to cargo concurrently. They must be co-ordinated to avoid costly delays, such as current delays at ports where cargo is delivered by ship, but has to be stored on port premises until there is rail, or maybe road, capacity to move the cargo onwards towards to final destination.
Poti port and the expansion plan
Poti Sea Port is the largest port in Georgia, handling container, liquids, dry bulk cargo and passenger ferries.
In 2020, APM Terminals Poti announced its plans to create a deep-water port by investing over $250 million of private capital for phase 1 and a substantial amount for phase 2 in an extensive development of the port infrastructure and superstructure.
The expansion plan for Poti Sea Port that was presented to the Government of Georgia consists of two stages of construction and development. The first stage includes a breakwater of 1,700m and a 400m multipurpose quay with 13.5 m depth able to handle dry bulk cargo and an incremental 150,000 TEUs. This berth will be able accommodate container vessels of up to 9,000 TEU.
The second stage will include a 300m container quay equipped with 3 state-of-the-art STS cranes. It will double the annual container capacity at Poti Sea Port to over 1 million TEU.
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