The PTC Group of Companies will build a port terminal in the port of Poti on shares with Georgian partners.

The holding believes that the project will be put into operation in October this year. PTC Holding signed an investment agreement in Tbilisi on the implementation
of a multimodal terminal construction project in Georgia for the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TMTM). For the implementation of the project on parity. Initially, POTI TRANSTERMINAL JSC was created with private Georgian partners, which will be its operator. The construction of the port terminal will be the first Kazakh infrastructure project implemented in Poti, one of the largest ports of Georgia, which is a reference point on The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TMTM), which is extremely important for Kazakhstani operators in the current geopolitical situation inthe world, as well as for the diversification of logistics routes.

The approximate volume of investments in the project at the moment in the holding is estimated at about $ 10 million, which will be financed without the participation of the state. The terminal itself will be located in the port of Poti on an area of 8 hectares, and its
capacity will be 80 thousand containers (in 20-foot equivalent) per year. “Since Georgia is an entry and exit
point on the Black Sea, it is important that PTC Holding, taking into account the implementation of infrastructure projects, will be able to directly form cargo traffic through Georgia to Europe and in the opposite direction, – says the Development Director of PTC LLP
Holding” Olzhas Arykbayev. – Negotiations with Georgian partners have started since the beginning of this year.  The President of our country has been talking all last year and setting tasks for the implementation of infrastructure projects and the expansion of bottlenecks in logistics. As part of this policy, PTC Holding decided to implement the project after visiting the ports of Poti and Batumi.” Choosing the city of Poti as a place, rather than Batumi, where Kazakh business is traditionally represented, according to him, It is caused by the specifics that have developed in Georgia, according to which the port of Batumi mainly serves oil and bulk cargo, and Poti – container and
automobile. Construction of a terminal in Georgia as a reference point on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TMTM) fits perfectly into the strategy development of a private Kazakhstani operator.  “When we talk about large cargo flows and serious shippers, we need to rely on someone and something. In this sense, the work with the port infrastructure should be filigree. It should provide acceptance,
registration, shipment of goods. Therefore, we are looking at the Black Sea ports of Georgia.
If we are talking about the maritime part of the TMTM, then this is actually the end of the route. If TMTM starts for container trains at Altynkol station, border crossing between China and Kazakhstan, then it ends in Poti or Batumi. Therefore, it is necessary to be present there,” the chairman of the Board of PTC Holding is convinced Timur Karabaev. Since the port of Poti is the final point of cargo transportation via TMTM on the Black Sea, the construction of a container terminal will allow Kazakh businesses to participate in the formation of cargo flows, as well as create favorable tariff conditions on this route for Kazakhstani exporters and attract additional volumes of transit cargo through the Republic of Kazakhstan. The completion date is scheduled for October 2023. “It is planned to start procedures for the development of design and estimate documentation immediately after the signing of the investment agreement. In principle, there is already a project concept. Now we need to make it detailed and start construction. The object itself is small, its area is only 8 hectares, so you can build it quickly enough.

If we talk about specific deadlines, then after the signing of the agreement, the terminal will be built within 4-5 months, its launch is planned in October-November of this year,” Olzhas Arykbayev said. That it is extremely important to unlock the potential of TMTM, which involves the creation of unified transport operators and the formation of a closed logistics cycle, as well as the active participation of private domestic business in this process, repeatedly during The President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also spoke last year. ”
Full disclosure of the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route is of great importance. We are talking about improving logistics services, creating unified transport operators, modernizing technical and tariff conditions, eliminating administrative barriers and forming a closed logistics cycle,” he said, meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Astana in April.

International Association Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TMTM) or The Middle Corridor unites the owners of the main
infrastructure, carriers of various types of transport in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Ukraine, Romania, Poland, as well as China. In 2022, the volume of cargo transportation increased 2.5 times and reached 1.5 million tons. At the same time, the export of Kazakhstani goods increased 6.5 times compared to 2021 and amounted to 891 thousand tons.
In addition, 33.6 thousand were transported. TEF in containers is 33% higher than the indicator of the same period last year. Analysts of PTC Holding predict that in 2023 the volume of traffic will grow by another 25%. It is worth noting that in order to build capacity
TMTM members of the association have developed a Roadmap for the simultaneous elimination of bottlenecks and the development of the potential of TMTM for 2022-2027.
It is expected that these measures will increase the capacity of the corridor to 10 million tons per year by 2025. “Today we see growth
consumers’ demand for services within the Trans-Caspian transport route, the so-called “Middle Corridor”. We have for today on it already
there are active developments, and customers are not just interested, but are trying to place applications,” says Timur
Karabaev. He states that “any complicated geopolitical situation has its reflection in business relations.” When the business begins to change, the sales strategy and the transportation strategy change. “Today in quite a difficult situation turned out to be the countries of Southeast Asia, which have their trading positions in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan. Kyrgyzstan).
Because there is a demand for traditional routes on which goods and goods from In South-East Asia, in particular from Korea or Japan, it has either declined significantly, or goods have completely stopped going through them. As a result , shippers from Southeast Asia began to look for alternative ways to deliver their goods”, – the Chairman of the Management Board summarizes «PTC Holding». According to the business development strategy, the PTC Holding Group of Companies is already in the process of creating an international network of subsidiaries (“sales windows” and infrastructure projects) to enter into direct contracts without intermediaries with the world’s largest cargo owners, manufacturers and logistics platforms in order to attract additional volumes of cargo in transit through the Republic of Kazakhstan. Over the past two years, the group of companies has registered subsidiaries enterprises in Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Shanghai (China), Istanbul (Turkey) and Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan).

“We have built the largest terminal in Dostyk with a capacity of 320 thousand containers per year. Last year we handled about 100 thousand containers, this year there will be more. We have opened a company in Shanghai, and now we are registering a company in Istanbul. Thanks
to our partners from Georgia, because the new terminal in Poti is a logical continuation of our work on the development of Kazakhstan’s transit potential,” the PTC shareholder commented on the event Holding” Daniyar Abulgazin. An important direction of the strategy of PTC Holding is the implementation of infrastructure projects, including the construction of transport and logistics terminals on the main international land corridors between the countries of Europe and The People’s Republic of China. “We have always built our strategy on finding bottlenecks, and where they exist and there is an opportunity to physically “embroider” them through development logistics infrastructure, that’s where we invested money. It is she who ensures our competitive position in the market. When studying new routes, we look at the capacity of certain places, and where it is not so high, but it is quite realistic to upgrade it for adequate money in an adequate time, we are ready to invest there. Our position has always been unambiguous – to develop the logistics infrastructure,” Timur Karabayev says.

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