MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

Tbilisi Dry Port was officially opened - a modern container and cargo terminal started operating. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Dry Port, First Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Levan Davitashvili noted that this is a project that strengthens Georgia's transport and logistics capabilities and is an important part of the Middle Corridor as a whole.

“When we were talking about the great importance of the Middle Corridor for the Georgian economy a few years ago, we precisely envisioned the implementation of such projects, where additional value is created in the country through the implementation of successful transport and logistics operations. Such infrastructure is a necessary element for the development and increase of the competitiveness of the Middle Corridor, in addition, the concept of a dry port is important for strengthening Georgia's transport and logistics capabilities” – Levan Davitashvili said.

Tbilisi Dry Port was opened by the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze, and the event was also attended by the Minister of State of the United Arab Emirates, Ahmed bin Ali Al Sayegh. The port is a large-scale, multimodal logistics hub, the implementation of which is being carried out by Abu Dhabi Ports Group, the Norwegian Wilhelmsen Port Service and the local company Inveco. The development of the port is set in 3 phases over an area of 286 000 m2. At this stage, the first phase was completed and 21 million USD was already been invested.

The First Vice Prime Minister spoke about the transport and logistics sector as one of the important priorities of the Georgian economy, the development of which the government is actively working towards. According to Davitashvili, in recent years, there have been positive trends in Georgia in this regard - in 2024, Georgian ports were able to process almost 20 million tons of cargo. In addition, transport and freight transportation has increased in all directions, last year land transport exceeded 15 million tons. Compared to the figures of 2023, rail freight transportation is also increasing, where over 12 million tons of cargo were processed. According to Levan Davitashvili, the Tbilisi Dry Port will play an important role in this regard.

“The transport and logistics sector has been one of the main components of the economic growth that Georgia has experienced in recent years. Increasing its capabilities in this regard is a top priority, and I believe that all this is achievable as a result of effective and efficient cooperation with international partners, and today we are witnessing exactly this. This project is being implemented by world-renowned companies experienced in the transport and logistics sector together with Georgian partners” – Levan Davitashvili said.

In his speech, the First Vice Prime Minister emphasized the need and importance of such a large-scale terminal infrastructure in the development of the Middle Corridor, which would allow sorting and processing various types of cargo. In addition, the location of the port is important - its strategic location with practically all types of transport networks, which provides access to important transport hubs including railways, airports, ports of Batumi and Poti.

"The importance of the dry port is special, because it is a new approach to transport and logistics operations in general - when we can already conduct such types of logistics operations on land near the capital, process cargo in a way that allows to reduce some impact, pressure on our port infrastructure in Batumi and Poti, and at the same time, on the contrary, provides additional complement to the services that we offer to our clients at our sea ports. I hope that soon this port will be an additional link that will help not only Poti and Batumi, but also Anaklia Port, and it will be one of the complementary infrastructures for Anaklia Port as well" – Levan Davitashvili said.