“The signing of the EPC contract marks the transition from strategic agreements to the practical implementation of a large-scale project. We are creating a modern logistics hub that will strengthen the transit potential of Central Asia and become an important link in the Eurasian transport corridors. For us, this is not just a construction project – it is a long-term investment in the development of the regional economy and international trade”, said Silkway CA CEO Daniyar Tiesov.

Portfolio expansion

PTC Holding says that the logistics complex will strengthen the positions of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan as key transit hubs between China, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Europe. It will also complement PTC Holding’s international infrastructure from Dostyk TransTerminal to the multimodal terminal Poti TransTerminal.

The MPLC will occupy an area of 159.4 hectares. The completion of the first phase is scheduled for 2027 and covers an investment of 84 million dollars.

Last June, PTC Holding, a transport and logistics investment group from Kazakhstan with an overarching investment focus in Central Asia, and Georgian partners established the ‘JSC Poti Transterminal’ joint venture with the responsibility to build the terminal, stretching an area of 8 hectares.  The partners share an even split in the joint venture.

According to the plan, the terminal will finish the first stage of construction in the first quarter of 2024. By then, it could attract and process 80,000 TEU in the Middle Corridor yearly, according to Timur Karabaev, head of PTC Holding, one of the companies investing in the new terminal.

Kazakhstan in Georgia

“The construction of the port terminal will be the first Kazakh infrastructure project to be implemented in Poti, which is extremely important for Kazakh enterprises in the current geopolitical situation in the world, as well as for diversification of logistics routes,” added Karabaev. Kazakhstan’s investment in Georgia is targeted, since the country acknowledges that to enhance its rail logistics hub position its should also help its partnering countries grow.

“Kazakhstan should become a transit hub for the transportation of goods from China to EU countries and back. Such projects will contribute to this. Kazakhstan will have its own terminal in Georgia and this is a continuation of Kazakhstan’s policy for the development of the Middle Corridor,”  said Marat Karabaev, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development emphasised.

Growing Middle Corridor

A new terminal brings hope to stretch the capacity of the Middle Corridor. The corridor has increased from 25,2 thousand TEU in 2021 to 33,6 TEU in 2022, with an ambition to upscale to 52,9 thousand TEU in 2023. If the expectation meets reality, the Middle Corridor will grow twice the size in just two years. This new reality could be good news for anyone active in transporting goods anywhere between China and Europe. However, just one new terminal could not solve the problem in this corridor for all. The lack of vessels and barges in the Black and Caspian Sea, insurance, and customs clearance are all issues still waiting to be resolved.

Also read:

• CMA CGM links Piraeus to Middle Corridor via port of Poti
• ‘Poti is a rail port able to channel Central Asian cargo to the world’
• China to the port of Poti: we could make it in 20 days