Ministry for Regional Development of Georgia has approved the project to enlarge capacities of the sea port of Poti expected to result in its total throughput boosting almost twice, informs Interfax-Ukraina.
As per the report by Poti Mayor’s Office, the project envisages construction of a new protection mole of 1 640 running metres and two deep-water quays of 700 m, enabling thus additional handling of 9M t of bulk/general cargoes and 500,000 TEU per annum.
According to the city’s evaluation, implementation of this project is very important both for the municipality and the country’s economical development, and from the new jobs creation point of view. “Now our main concern is to promote actually a new port erecting, to correctly plan the city’s dimensional development priorities, for which quick growth of railway and road infrastructure is acquiring particular importance”, stressed Mayor of Poti Gochi Kurdghelia.
The expansion project for Poti Port is assessed as $250M. The managing company APM Terminals Poti (a branch of the Danish group A.P. Moller-Maersk) is engaged in attracting contractors and investments for the project implementation.
In particular, it is already known that new sites in the port will be built by the specially established jointly with foreign partners Poti New Terminals Consortium (PNTC), as well as the Georgian-American company Pace Group now operating eight terminals of the port. APM Terminals intends to invest $100M in the works performed by PNTC, while the assignments by Pace Group aren estimated in $120M.
In 2018 there were 6.3M t of cargo processed in the port of Poti, which is 6% more than the previous year, as well as 363 936 TEU (14.2% up). From January to March 2019 the port handled 2.1M t of cargo (31.2% growth comparing to Jan-March 2018), and 114 819 TEU processed (40% up). Yet, the port’s capacities are still undercharged.
APM Terminals purchased in April 2011 the 80% share in the corporation Poti Sea Port from Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA, UAE) for $80M, and the name was consequently changed to APM Terminals Poti. Since then they invested over $100M in the port’s renovation and expansion. The rest of 20% of the corporation are kept by RAKIA.
https://ports.com.ua/news/gruziya-utverdila-proekt-rasshireniya-porta-poti