Tag Archives: maritime

Blue Water Shipping announces new Kazakh deal

Port developments begin in Georgia

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Anaklia Development Consortium started construction at the $2.5b Anaklia Deep Sea Port, just north of Poti, on Georgia’s Black Sea coast. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Georgia’s PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili said the port will be complete by 2020. TBC Holding and US-based Conti are part of the consortium. Mamuka Khazaradze, chairman of TBC Bank, owns TBC Holding.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Georgia awards contract to build $2.5b Black Sea port to US-Georgian group

FEB. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia awarded a US-Georgian consortium the contract to build a $2.56b deepwater port at Anaklia on the Black Sea, a project that will bolster the country’s role as a major trade link between East and West.

The Georgian government chose the Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC) over two separate bids submitted by China’s state-owned PowerChina and another by Russo- Georgian venture Anaklia Industrial Eco-Park.

ADC is a joint venture between Tbilisi-based TBC Holding and US- based Conti. Mamuka Khazaradze, chairman of TBC Bank, owns TBC Holding.

Kurt Conti, Conti CEO, said in a statement: “We are looking forward to breaking ground and working with the government of Georgia to help forge new paths from Asia to Europe as well as unlocking the economic potential of Georgia’s neighbours and landlocked nations in the Caucasus.”

For Georgia, the project underlines its role as transit country for goods flowing between Asia and Europe. It hosts oil and gas pipelines running from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, has developed its road and rail networks and wants to leverage its position on the Black Sea.

And the government, which has also pledged $100m to the project, said that the deepwater port was vital.

“This will create completely new opportunities for Georgia to make full use of the Silk Road and the South Caucasus transport corridor,” PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili told the press.

The plan will also transform Anakalia, a small town on the border with the breakaway region of Abkhazia.

The construction phase of the port will create an estimated 3,400 jobs, ADC told media, and a total of 6,400 people will be employed at the port when it is up and running.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 267, published on Feb. 12 2016)

Azerbaijani businessman denies accusations

DEC. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Malta-based Oil Transportation and Shipping Services, owned by Azerbaijani businessman Mubariz Mansimov, denied any allegation of its association with the BMZ Group, owned by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son. Russia accused the BMZ Group of smuggling oil on behalf of the Islamic State. Relations between Russia and Turkey have broken down after a Turkish fighter-jet shot down a Russian fighter-jet over Syria in November.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Van Oord signs Kazakhstan contracts

DEC. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Dutch marine engineering company Van Oord said it signed several contracts with Kazakhstan for a total value of $500m. Van Oord representatives accompanied the Dutch PM Mark Rutte during his official visit to Astana. One of the main projects will be to expand the port in the town of Prorva on the Caspian Sea coast near Atyrau in north-west Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

ADB approves loan for Georgian coast

AUG. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $20m loan to boost coastal defences along the Black Sea. The loan will be used to strengthen 5km of shore south of Batumi. The ADB said it was important to defend the shoreline to protect farmland and housing as well as the region’s beaches which attract thousands of tourists each year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Georgian Poti Port to increase in size

JUNE 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – APM Terminals plans to increase the size and depth of its port at Poti, on Georgia’s Black Sea coast, media quoted its deputy managing director Joseph Crowley as saying at a conference. Mr Crowley said APM wanted to add two more deep-water berths to the port, boosting its capacity.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)

ENI builds shipyard in Kazakhstan

NOV. 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Italian energy major ENI has started to hand out the first contracts to build a shipyard at Kuryk on Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea coast. The shipyard is designed to increase ship building capacity and generate jobs. It was announced as a joint-venture with KazMunaiGaz last year, when the Kazakh economy looked stronger.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)

PM unveils plan for new Black Sea port in Georgia

May 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia will start building a deep water port on its Black Sea coast to cope with an expected surge in cargo being transported across the South Caucasus and on to Europe.

Georgian PM Irakli Garibshvili appeared to slip in news of the planned construction, almost casually, during comments he made at a Georgia-France business forum.

“We expect that Georgia’s demand for transport and logistics will increase,” the Trend news agency quoted Mr Garibashvili as saying.

“Therefore, we have decided to construct a deep-sea port in the Black Sea (Anaklia), to better serve the rapidly growing business in transportation and warehousing sectors.”

There has been something of an infrastructure boom across the South Caucasus.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline pumps oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, generating revenue for the transit countries and plans for more pipelines will also push up earnings.

What Mr Garibashvili was talking about though is physical cargo transported from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey have combined to modernise the co-called Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. This is predominantly a trade route used to transit goods. Although it doesn’t finish in Anaklia it will still benefit the port town just north of Poti.

Increased trade across the South Caucasus is set to give Georgian industry a much needed boost.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

Trade slows down at Kazakh Caspian port

JAN. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In 2013 the port of Aktau, on Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea coast, handled 8% less trade compared to 2012.

This is significant because Aktau is one of the biggest trading posts into and out of Kazakhstan. Unsurprisingly oil and oil-based products form 60% of Aktau Port’s trade volumes. Last year oil shipments through Aktau dropped by 20%, a significant drop and one that needs to be analysed.

The drop is probably down to a shift in the direction that oil has been travelling. Previously, Kazakhstan had sent most of its oil West across the Caspian Sea to Europe via Azerbaijan or north through Russia’s pipeline network. This has changed significantly over the past few years and Kazakh oil is now flowing east to China.

The drop in trade at Aktau is important as it is probably a byproduct of increased Chinese demand for Kazakh energy.

Of course, as Kazakhstan’s economy grows, so should all trade volumes at Aktau — especially, and importantly, non-oil trade volumes.

(News report from Issue No. 167, published on Jan. 15 2014)