APM Terminals expands into the Black Sea

APM Terminals has announced the acquisition of an 80% share in Poti Sea Port, which is located on Georgia’s Black Sea coast. The shares have been bought from Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA) of the United Arab Emirates.


Poti Sea Port is the largest port in the Republic of Georgia handling liquid and dry bulk, ferries and last year it handled 210,000 containers. It has 15 berths with total berth length of 2,900 m, 25 quay cranes two Gottwald mobile harbor cranes. With a ro-ro and rail ferry terminal and an extensive on–dock rail system connected to the national network, the port currently serves as the European gateway for international trade in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and is said to be ideally located to become a future hub for Central Asia trade.


“The Black Sea region has a strong potential [and] we believe we can add a lot of value to Poti Sea Port to generate more business”, said APM Terminals senior vice president and head of new terminals, Peder Sondergaard.


APM Terminals will operate the port in a joint venture with RAKIA and over the next five years it plans to invest US$100m in upgrading and expanding the port facilities to world-class performance levels in productivity and safety.
(Source:http://www.container-mag.com)