Georgia’s ports and railways surge as Middle Corridor freight volume rockets

Freight traffic passing through the Middle Corridor via Georgia surged nearly three times in the first half of 2025, according to a statement from the Georgian Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development.

The Ministry highlighted that this upward trend in freight transport through Georgia’s transit corridor continues robustly, Caliber.Az reports, citing Georgian media.

Between January and June 2025, a total of 9,849 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers were shipped from China and back through Georgia along the Middle Corridor, marking a remarkable 173% increase compared to the same period in 2024, when only 3,608 TEU were transported.

The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), commonly known as the Middle Corridor, was launched in February 2014. It involves major maritime and rail transport companies from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Georgia. The route stretches from the China-Kazakhstan border, crossing Kazakhstan and the Caspian Sea, through Azerbaijan and Georgia, before reaching Europe.

During the same period, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway also experienced significant growth in container traffic, moving 9,393 TEU – an astonishing nearly 59-fold increase from the 160 TEU transported in the first half of 2024.

Georgia’s seaports saw particularly strong growth in cargo handling. The ports of Batumi and Poti together handled 7 million tons of cargo in the first six months of 2025, reflecting a 5.9% rise compared to last year.

In terms of container throughput, these two main Georgian seaports processed 375,654 TEU during the period, which is 19.5% more than the volume handled in the same months of 2024.

Currently, Georgia operates two key seaports—Batumi and Poti—with Poti handling the majority of cargo flows. However, Poti faces limitations due to its shallow depth, which prevents it from accommodating vessels carrying more than 1,500 containers.

In addition to maritime traffic, air cargo transport through Georgian international airports also increased by 57.6% during the first half of 2025, reaching a total of 16,500 tons.

Georgia’s strategic role as a transit hub is critical for its economic development, especially given its free trade agreements with major partners like China, Türkiye, and the European Union. To further bolster this position, Georgia is currently undertaking a large-scale project to complete the East-West Highway, a vital corridor connecting Asia and Europe through the country.

Another major initiative underway is the construction of Georgia’s first deep-water port in Anaklia, located on the western Black Sea coast, which promises to enhance the country’s maritime capacity significantly.

By Tamilla Hasanova