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Abu Dhabi buys majority of Georgia logistics centre

By Andy Sambidge
Abu Dhabi GeorgiaJemal Inaishvili, founder of Inveco, Neal de Roche, president of Wilhelmsen Port Services and Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi of AD Ports Group AD Ports Group
Left to right, Jemal Inaishvili, founder of Inveco, Neal de Roche, president of Wilhelmsen Port Services and Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi of AD Ports Group sign the agreement between the three companies
  • Project operational by end of 2024
  • First phase will handle 96,500 TEUs
  • Sited on prime Asia-Europe route

Abu Dhabi Ports Group is buying a 60 percent stake in the Tbilisi Dry Port, a new logistics centre in Georgia.

The project, which is scheduled to be operational by the end of this year, will be developed in phases on two parcels of land, while an additional 88,000 sq m of land is available if required.

AD Ports did not disclose the value of the deal, signed with the Georgian company Inveco and Wilhelmsen Port Services of Norway, the current owners of the project.

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The dry port will be completed in three phases. By the end of phase one the handling capacity is expected to reach 96,500 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs). 

Phase two will provide an additional 10,000 sq m of warehouse facilities and capacity will increase to up to 286,000 TEUs, depending on demand. Further land plots will be developed in phase three.

Tbilisi is on the so-called Middle Corridor, a trade lane linking manufacturing hubs in Western Asia to consumer markets in Eastern Europe via sea and dry ports in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Turkey.

The agreement builds upon growing economic relations between the UAE and Georgia that has resulted in non-oil trade reaching more than $225 million in the first half of 2023, a 28 percent increase on the same period in 2022. 

Total non-oil bilateral trade was worth $481 million for the full year of 2022, more than double the figure for 2021. 

The UAE now accounts for almost two thirds of Georgia’s trade with Arab countries.

Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, managing director and group CEO at Abu Dhabi Ports Group, commenting on the Georgia deal, said: “By investing in, and operating, new strategic infrastructure and logistics hubs along the Caspian Sea-Black Sea corridor, AD Ports Group is delivering on our strategy to strengthen global supply chains.”

  • The UAE and Georgia are expected to implement a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement by the end of June which aims to increase bilateral non-oil trade to $1.5 billion in five years 
  • The Middle Corridor is regarded as the shortest trade route between Asia and Europe, covering about 7,000km and requiring a journey of 10 to 15 days
  • The Tbilisi project has direct westward railway links to Turkey and to the Georgian ports of Poti and Batumi, which connect to Black Sea ports in Bulgaria and Romania. To the east, it links with Central Asian ports on the Caspian Sea via a railway corridor to Azerbaijan
  • The UAE is Georgia’s sixth-largest global investor, representing 5 percent of its total foreign direct investment

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