Report: Georgia Revokes Deal with Anaklia Development Consortium

Illustration; Image Courtesy: Van Oord

The Government of Georgia has reportedly canceled the contract with the Anaklia Development Consortium for the construction of the country’s deep sea port in the Black Sea.

The key reasons behind the decision are said to be the consortium’s inability to secure financing loans for the project to move ahead. As such, a new investor is being sought by the government to resume the project development.

Furthermore, Anaklia Development Consortium is expected to pay a fine for failing to secure the necessary loans and will have to return the land obtained under the project, local media reported citing the country’s Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Maia Tskitishvili.

As informed, the consortium had until December 31, to reach an agreement with potential investors, as well as international banks (EBRD, OPIC, ADB, AIIB) for a loan of USD 400 million.

World Maritime News is yet to obtain statements from the consortium and other partner companies involved in the project.

Anaklia Deep Sea Port, Georgian first deep-sea container port, was set to open in 2020. The port’s designed depth was 16 meters allowing for vessels of up to 10,000 TEUs of capacity to berth at the port.

The port was set to be constructed on about 400 hectares of land under a 52 yearčlong concession. After completion of all phases, the port would is designed to have the capacity to serve 100 million tons of freight turnover.

The project development was scheduled to be carried out in 9 phases, with an aggregate investment of USD 2.5 billion.

Anaklia Port’s future growth was relying heavily on its strategic location between China and Europe. The port was given strategic importance by the government and was described as the future gateway for cargo being transported between China to Europe, thus restoring the historic Silk Road.

In October 2016, the Government of Georgia and ADC inked an investment agreement for the construction and operation of the port. The ADC is comprised of TBC Holding from Georgia, SSA Marine from the United States as the terminal operator, British Wondernet Express working in Central Asia, and G-Star Ltd. from Bulgaria.

Other project participants include Maritime & Transport Business Solutions (MTBS), Van Oord which won dredging and reclamation works for the Phase 1 Anaklia Deep Sea Port project back in 2018, as well as RoyalHaskoning DHV and Moffat and Nichol.

The first stage large-scale marine works at Anaklia Deep Sea Port completed in September 2018. By then Athena, the major dredging vessel had pumped 5 million m³ of sand out of the sea bottom and poured it on the land.