Poti Port issues

In the first half of 2009 Poti Port processed 2.7 million tonnes of different cargo. In the first half of 2008 this figure was 4.1 million tonnes.

Poti mostly processes so-called dry cargo but has facilities for transporting oil products as well. It had projected that it would process over 8 million tonnes of cargo this year.

There are several reasons for the decrease in transportation operations at Poti port. The 2008 August Russian invasion inevitably increased risks and forced different forwarders to take other routes. For around 2 weeks railway connections were blocked and as Poti is mainly involved in railway transportation this created problems for forwarders, says economic analyst Gia Khukhashvili in an interview. Of course the global economic crisis which hit Georgia as well was also a very dramatic blow.

There is hope that Georgia’s transit image will eventually recover, but this might take some time. It is quite unknown as yet how the free industrial zone project in Poti will develop. This has been much promoted by the Georgian leadership but until recently has brought no visible results.