Georgia Anaklia Deep Sea Port Advances as Black Sea Logistics Hub

Georgia's Anaklia deep-sea port project is advancing as the country intensifies efforts to position itself as a critical Black Sea logistics node within the expanding Middle Corridor trade route linking Central Asia to Europe.

The port, planned for Georgia's Black Sea coast northwest of Poti, is designed to handle large container vessels and bulk cargo that currently face bottlenecks at the country's existing port facilities. The development reflects Georgia's deliberate strategy to capture a larger share of the growing east-west freight flows that have been channeled through the South Caucasus as alternatives to Russian transit routes.

The project comes at a time when Middle Corridor freight volumes are projected to grow by 10 percent in 2026, according to the Organization of Turkic States, building on approximately 5 million tons of cargo shipped along the route in 2025. Georgia's existing Black Sea ports at Poti and Batumi have faced capacity constraints as transit volumes have surged, creating demand for additional deep-water berth capacity.

The Anaklia port development is part of a broader infrastructure push across the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan and Georgia signed two agreements in January to expand the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway to 5 million tons per year of capacity, while Caspian port facilities in Baku and Aktau, Kazakhstan, are being modernized to handle growing container traffic.

Georgia's Poti Free Industrial Zone, located adjacent to the existing port of Poti, reflects a related strategy to position the country not merely as a transit corridor but as a value-adding node within the broader logistics architecture. The zone offers tax and regulatory incentives designed to attract manufacturing and assembly operations that could process goods moving through the Middle Corridor, as reported by Aze.Media.

International development institutions have expressed support for the port project. The IMF, in its recent Article IV mission to Georgia, highlighted infrastructure investment as a priority area, noting that Georgia's 8.4 percent GDP growth in January-February 2026 has been partly driven by transit and logistics revenues. The German Marshall Fund has also identified the Anaklia port as a strategically important project for European supply chain diversification.

Further Reading

Middle Corridor Freight Volumes on Track for 10% Growth in 2026

Georgia GDP Growth Hits 8.4% as IMF Projects Expansion