A new fertilizer storage and transhipment terminal has been officially opened in the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi, Batumi Sea Port Co. reported on June 14.
The new “Batumi Multimodal Fertilizer Terminal” is a joint venture between Trammo Inc., the Georgian government, and U.K.-headquartered international logistics company Wondernet Express Investment Group LLC.
The new facility has been designed to handle fertilizer, particularly urea, coming from Central Asian countries to the Caspian Sea port of Baku in Azerbaijan, from which product will be transported by rail to the new Batumi multimodal fertilizer terminal.
The project is aimed at shaping the logistics corridor – known as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor (the “Middle Corridor”) – from Central Asian countries to Black Sea ports via Azerbaijan and Georgia. The project’s participants believe the corridor will become the shortest and most efficient route for products from Central Asia to the Black Sea.
The multimodal terminal has transhipment capacity for up to 1.5 million mt/y, according to the Batumi Sea Port Co., and has storage capacity for around 65,000 mt of dry fertilizers.
Construction began in July 2019, and according to the port company, investments in the project have totaled $25 million.
Last week, Baku International Sea Trade Port announced the start of construction on a fertilizer terminal at its new facility in Alat on the Caspian Sea (GM June 11, p. 30).The terminal, which is planned to be built with 2.5 million mt/y handling capacity, is being jointly financed by the government of Azerbaijan and the Port of Baku, and is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2022, according to a Port of Baku press release.
Baku International Sea Trade Port, Trammo, and Wondernet Express Investment Group are reported to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on June 11 to facilitate fertilizer transit via the “Middle Corridor,” according to a report by Azerbaijan’s Trend, citing a Twitter message by Baku port.
According to the report, the parties intend to expand cooperation in the field of transport, logistics, and information exchange to accelerate the export of urea, sulfur, and other minerals from Central Asian countries in order to “further increase the potential of the ‘Middle Corridor.’”
It was also agreed to establish a digital connection between the Port of Baku fertilizer terminal under construction and the Batumi Multimodal Fertilizer Terminal, for “accurate transmission of cargo and wagon data.”
As reported by Green Markets on June 11, citing the Baku International Sea Trade Port press release, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan have production capacity for various fertilizers, including urea, sulfur, and potassium carbonate that exceeds 6.6 million mt annually. All three countries have invested heavily in the construction of fertilizer production facilities to increase potential export volumes.
According to the Port of Baku Director-General Taleh Ziyadov, the volume of Central Asian – primarily Turkmen – fertilizers transhipped via the port of Baku has increased more than 13-fold between 2018 and 2020, from 48,339 mt to 630,000 mt. In the first five months of 2021, the port handled more than 450,000 mt of fertilizers, according to Ziyadov.