Abkhazia Institute for Social and Economic Research

The Black Sea ports of Georgia, well-developed railway systems, oil and gas pipelines together with airports serve as the infrastructure linking the largest markets and regions.

In January-September of 2006, transport sector’s contribution to total GDP at current prices amounted to GEL 823.9 million and the growth rate in the sector, in comparison with the same period of the previous year, was 18.2 per cent. www.statistics.ge  

Georgian Railway
The Georgian railway is one of the crucial links in Eurasian transit and serves as a short-cut linking Europe and Central Asia. The Georgian railway system directly links to the railway systems of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia. Railway-ferry lines from the Batumi and Poti Black Sea ports directly connect the Caucasus and Central Asia with the Black Sea regions. Poti port has direct ferry transit with Ilichevsk (Ukraine) and Varna (Bulgaria) ports. Another railway-ferry transit has started operating between the ports of Poti and Kavkaz (Russia).

To maintain the volume of freight flow on the Georgian railway and attract additional freight, volume-based and preferential tariffs are applied. For example, the volume-based tariff on transit of raw oil is 5 USD per ton and on transit of oil products it is 7 USD per ton.

To ensure effective use of the Georgian transit corridor and attract additional freight, the Government of Georgia actively cooperates with neighboring countries. Based on a decision by the Governments of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, a Poti-Baku-Aktau-Almaty container train to which preferential tariffs will apply, will begin operation in 2006. Via this train export traffic to the territory of Kazakhstan is 0.22 USD per container/km, and import traffic is 0.28 USD per container/km. Transit traffic through the territories of Georgia and Azerbaijan is 0.28 USD per container/km.

Black Sea Ports of Georgia          

• Port of Poti
  Port of Poti is 49 hectares and works year round. At present the port owns a cargo transportation complex consisting of 14 wharfs with a total length of 2650 meters. 11 wharfs are equipped with portal cranes with capacities of 6-40 tons. The conditions for cargo transportation in the port are sufficient for processing almost all types of cargo and liquid products. Freight turnover at the port is consistently increasing. 7 terminals at Poti port are under long-term lease.
• Port of Poti is linked with Ilichevsk (Ukraine), Varna (Bulgaria) and Kavkaz (Russia) ports by direct railway-ferry lines, and with Novorossisk (Russia), Burgas (Bulgaria) and Rize (Turkey) ports by direct motorway ferry lines. www.potiseaport.com
• Batumi Port
  Georgia’s transportation of Azeri and Kazakh oil transformed Batumi port into a bridge linking the Europe-Asia transport corridor. In general, Batumi Port loads oil and oil products on 4 wharfs with the area of 8 hectares and total length of 755 meters. Dry cargo is mainly processed in two wharfs with the area of 17.5 hectares and total length of 1 590 meters.
  Cargo carriage capacity for oil products is 15-18 mln tons annually.  For dry cargo it is 2.3-2.5 mln tons annually. A container terminal (4.5 hectares) is being constructed in the port. The projected turnover at the terminal is 47-50 thousand containers per year.  www.batumiport.com

Motor Transport
Georgia has 20,229 km of public roads, including 1,474 km of international, 3,326 km of state and 15,439 km of local roads. Reconstruction of Georgia’s central highway is one of the top priorities in the Government’s infrastructure rehabilitation program. Most roads of international importance were reconstructed and rehabilitated in 2005.

Civil Aviation
At present 4 national and 13 foreign regular airlines, including Austrian airlines, British airlines, Lufthansa and Turkish airlines are operating in Georgia. Direct air connections are available from Tbilisi to Vienna, Zurich, Athens, Paris, Prague, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Moscow, St. Petersburg.  98% of air transportation is performed by Tbilisi International Airport.
In 1994 Georgia became a member of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and in 2005 became a member of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC).

Links:
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