THE International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) has inaugurated the expansion of its container terminal in Batumi, Georgia, expanding the capacity of the facility by a third.
In a statement, the company said the expansion program for Batumi International Container Terminal (BICT) involves “both the waterside and landside areas of the multipurpose terminal,” which are “intended to optimize the processing of existing cargo flows and install additional capacity to accommodate new business.”
This includes a comprehensive dredging program that provides an 11.5-meter draught in the port’s fairway and alongside BICT’s quay line, allowing for “easy access for feedermax vessels at the port and making it Georgia’s deepest draught port,” ICTSI Senior Vice President and Europe, Middle East and Africa Head Hans-Ole Madsen said.
“On the landside, we have met the stated requirement of importers and established a new container freight station complete with a 180-meter rail spur to facilitate cross-stuffing from containers to rail cars. Complementing this, we have also expanded container and truck storage areas, and following the completion of a new highway to Batumi, introduced a new, dedicated two-lane gate complex for BICT.” he added.
The expansion essentially boosts its general cargo and dry bulk handling capacities.
The overall development program for BICT raises the facility’s annual container handling capacity to 200,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
As of June 2017, based on its previous media announcements, the container terminal has an annual capacity of 150,000 TEUs.