AD Ports acquires 60% stake in Georgia’s Tbilisi Dry Port

Currently owned by Inveco LLC and Wilhelmsen, Tbilisi Dry Port is a custom-bonded and rail-connected intermodal logistics hub which is expected to be operational in Q4 2024. AD Ports has signed a deal with Inveco for a 60% ownership in the port.

AD Ports said the hub sits on a strategically important corridor which connects manufacturing hubs in West Asia to consumer markets in Eastern Europe through ports in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and Türkiye. The facility also serves to connect the Caspian and Black seas with westward railway links to Türkiye and to Georgian Ports of Poti and Batumi, which further connect to European Black Sea ports in Bulgaria and Romania, while its eastern connectivity links with different ports located along the Caspian Sea via a railway corridor to Azerbaijan.

The first of three phases in the project will have a handling capacity of 96,500 teu once completed with 10,000 sq m of warehouse and a car storage yard. By the end of phase three, Tbilisi Dry Port will be able to handle 286,000 teu, with 100,000 sq m of warehouse, and room for expansion into land already secured for the project. 

AD Ports’ Noaum Logisitics will operate and manage the facilities at the site with the support of Inveco and Wilhelmsen.

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Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, Managing Director and Group CEO, AD Ports Group, said: “As a country situated at the centre of the Caucasus and located along the Black Sea, Georgia is a key destination linking us with our growing maritime and logistics assets in Central Asia and Türkiye, thereby enabling us to serve our customers with cost-effective, streamlined cargo flows and capture significant future trade volumes.”

Mr. Jemal Inaishvili, Founder of Inveco LLC, Georgia, said: “I am delighted that negotiations with AD Ports Group ended successfully. AD Ports Group’s vast expertise in ports operations and logistics facilities will bring a new level of management in the Georgia’s logistics sector. I am also very glad that by this partnership we are contributing to growing economic co-operation between United Arab Emirates and Georgia.”

Neal de Roche, President, Wilhelmsen Port Services, said “Georgia has been an important market to us for a long time already. The development of the Tiblisi Dry Port has been a cornerstone project to support the development of the trade corridor between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. We are excited to have AD Ports Group come in as majority shareholder with their wealth of experience in port and terminal operations.”

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