Ukraine has resumed ferry service to Georgia, making two trips from the port of Chornomorsk to the Georgian port of Batumi for the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion.
"Two voyages from the port of Chornomorsk to the port of Batumi were completed on 18 and 26 March, and the third voyage is planned for next week," said Tymofii Murakhovskyi, Director of Commercial Operations and Logistics at the Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (JSC Ukrzaliznytsia), at a meeting on "Restoring Ukraine-Georgia Ferry Service as Part of the TITR Corridor," the CFTS portal reports, citing the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
According to Murakhovskyi, the project is being implemented with the participation of the shipping company Ukrferry (Odesa) and Ukrzaliznytsia’s subsidiary UZ Cargo Poland (Warsaw).
Ukrzaliznytsia noted that the first voyages in March were made in an "information silence mode" and urged businesses to become more actively involved.
Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale aggression in February 2022, there have been no maritime links between Ukraine and Georgia. Ukrferry previously announced plans to resume the Chornomorsk-Batumi ferry service on 9 July 2024, but the resumption did not take place.
As reported previously, part of the cargo transported on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR, also known as the Middle Corridor) linking China and Europe is planned to be routed through Ukraine. One of the steps in the implementation of this project is the plan to register a company called UZ Cargo East in Kazakhstan. The ferries "Heroes of Plevna" and "Heroes of Shipka," which Ukrzaliznytsia planned to transfer to the State Property Fund of Ukraine as non-core assets, will be used.
At a meeting of the Office of Exporters on 19 February, Murakhovskyi announced that Ukraine's participation in the TITR would be discussed during a visit of Ukrzaliznytsia's management to Baku in early March. According to the plan, the ferries Heroes of Plevna and Heroes of Shipka will transport container trains from the Caspian ports to Baku and then from the Georgian port of Poti to Odesa, from where the cargo will be transported to Europe.
In March, UZ Cargo Poland became an associate member of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) International Association. Ukrzaliznytsia’s head Oleksandr Pertsovskyi took part in the association's meeting in Baku. At the roundtable "The Middle Corridor: Connectivity Across the Caspian Sea," which took place in Baku in March, he said that active work is underway to resume ferry service between Ukraine and Georgia. According to him, this will not only extend the TITR corridor to European countries via transit through Ukraine, but also revive previous economic ties.
