The Poti Sea Port (Georgian: ფოთის საზღვაო ნავსადგური, p’ot’is sazghvao navsadguri) is a major seaport and harbor off the eastern Black Sea coast at the mouth of the Rioni River in Poti, Georgia. Its UN/LOCODE is GEPTI and is located at
The Poti seaport is a cross point of the Trans-Caucasian Corridor/TRACECA, a multinational project which connects the Romanian port of Constanţa and Bulgarian port Varna with the landlocked countries of the Caspian region and Central Asia.
The construction of a seaport at Poti was conceived shortly after 1828, when the Russian Empire reconquered the town from the Ottoman Empire which controlled it since the fractioning of the Kingdom of Georgia. In 1858, Poti was granted the status of a port city, but it was not until 1899 when, under the patronage of the mayor of Poti Niko Nikoladze, the construction entered the sprint stages and was completed by 1907. The seaport has since reconstructed several times, most recently under the sponsorship of the Dutch government and the European Union.[1]
In 2007, the total throughput was 7.7 million tons and container handling was 185,000 TEU.[2]
In April 2008, Georgia sold a 51% stake of the Poti port area to the Investment Authority of the UAE’s Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) emirate to develop a free economic zone (FEZ) in a 49-year management concession, and to manage a new port terminal. The creation of a new FEZ was officially inaugurated by the President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili on April 15, 2008.[3]