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9.2.2 Transport corporate news
The PACE group, a transportation company in Georgia, announced the construction launch for a new $120mn terminal at the country’s Black Sea port of Poti in the presence of government officials, Agenda.ge informed. The supplementary cargo turnover of the new terminal is expected at 2.5mn tonnes, a small fraction of the controversial large port expansion envisaged by APM Terminals, the operator of Poti port that has overall announced plans to build a “deep water ” port with an annual cargo turnover of 50mn tonnes.
However, the depth of the new PACE terminal planned for the future (15m), qualifies it as a deep-water port. A similar area dedicated to the new terminal (25 hectares) and a “second stage” envisaging deepening the terminal to 15m indicates that this new PACE terminal might actually be the first stage of the deep-water port announced by APM Terminals in direct competition to the port project in Anaklia, further up the Black Sea coast. The government stopped APM Terminal’s direct project for such a deep water port this spring, cancelling a preliminary building permit. The size of the PACE investment and the envisaged capacity indicate that it is rather far from being a real threat to Anaklia project, as things stand so far, though.
PACE group, which operates eight berths and a terminal in Poti port, announced that it has received $50mn in funding from the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which is the largest investment by OPIC in the Caucasus.
Located over 25 hectares, the new terminal will require dredging work to take place in the harbour to a depth of 12m, which will result in the sea port being able to accept vessels up to 253m in length and with a load capacity up to 50,000 tonnes, PACE said.
After the implementation of the project, the company’s current annual cargo turnover of three million tonnes will be almost doubled.
Georgian Minister of Infrastructure Maia Tskitishvili said that the project would create 500 new jobs.
Tskitishvili stated that the Georgia-US company PACE, which has been operating for 30 years, “is a success story, which not only retained cargo flow in Poti but also managed to expand.”
Tskitishvili said that the negotiations between OPIC and PACE went on for five years.
9.2.3 Aviation corporate news
Georgian Airways, the privately owned flag carrier of Georgia, will ask the European Court of Arbitrage to award it compensation of at least $25mn from Russia for banning its aircraft from Russian airports purportedly because of $16.6mn in overdue debt and for “aviation security that does not meet standards,” Business Media reported.
The Russian Civil Aviation Agency invoked unpaid fees in the amount of $16.6mn as the ban was introduced but that explanation was simply a lie and something that could be easily proven, Georgian Airways CEO Roman Bokeria reportedly said. The airline’s compliance with safety standards could also be easily substantiated, he added.
According to an order issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin, effective July 8, Russian airlines were banned from flying to Georgia for "security" reasons. Also applying the ban to the Georgian airline, the Kremlin cited the safety standards and debts. The actual cause of the flight ban was Moscow’s
57 GEORGIA Country Report November 2019 www.intellinews.com
