For over a decade the Anaklia deepwater port has been the most-promised piece of Georgian infrastructure that did not exist. Successive governments announced it, partnered on it, abandoned it, re-tendered it, and announced it again. The political drama around the project obscured the underlying strategic logic: a deepwater port on Georgia’s Black Sea coast is what makes the country a serious east-west trade corridor rather than a regional curiosity.
The latest turn came in July 2026. The deal with the Chinese-led consortium chosen in 2024 was never completed, and the government announced that the state would build and own the port itself and lease its terminals to private operators (Civil Georgia). Dredging began in August, and the government’s target for the first stage is 2029. The port is one of the three or four pieces of infrastructure that will define Georgia’s next decade. This piece explains what it is, what it does, and why concierges and corporate planners should care.
What Anaklia is
Anaklia is a coastal village on Georgia’s Black Sea coast, north of Poti and south of the Russian-occupied Abkhazia region. The port is being built at sea, off the village. In August 2026 the Belgian contractor Jan De Nul began dredging an entrance channel and a turning basin to a depth of about 17.5 metres, to be sheltered by a breakwater of almost 1.4 kilometres. The Ministry of Economy says this will let the port take Panamax and post-Panamax ships.
The plan, as officials and the contractor describe it, includes:
- A first stage with container capacity of at least 600,000 TEU a year, and a second stage of at least one million TEU by 2035, according to Jan De Nul, quoted by Ports Europe
- Deep-water container berths of up to about 700 metres, and jetty berths of up to 600 metres for dry and bulk cargo
- A free industrial zone next to the port (Interfax)
- Road and rail access, built by the state; in October 2026 Georgian Railway was choosing a consultant for about 17.7 kilometres of new line and a station (Imedi)
The first stage is costed at about $1.1 billion. Under the new model the state has to find nearly $200 million more than it had planned, for berths and other core infrastructure, while the container and bulk terminals are to be paid for by the international investors and operators that lease them (Civil Georgia).
The strategic logic
Three reasons the project matters.
The Middle Corridor. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), often called the Middle Corridor, is the China-Europe trade route that bypasses Russia by crossing the Caspian Sea via Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, transiting Georgia, and reaching the Black Sea. Georgia’s ports are where this route meets the sea, and Anaklia would be the deepest of them. The TITR has gained substantial volume since 2022 as European shippers diversify away from the northern (Russian) route. A deepwater port at Anaklia would move the route from “technically possible” towards “commercially competitive at scale.”
Container capacity Georgia currently lacks. Poti and Batumi handle Georgia’s existing container traffic, but neither can take the largest ships. If it is finished, Anaklia will be the only Georgian port able to receive Panamax and post-Panamax cargo ships, which today call at ports in Turkey or Russia instead (Interfax). Direct container service from East Asia to Georgia at scale would become possible for the first time.
Strategic positioning for the country. A deepwater port would turn Georgia from a transit country with limited bargaining power into a country with meaningful infrastructure assets on a major trade route. The economic effects of being on a major trade route compound across generations.
The history that’s worth knowing
The Anaklia story has been long enough that most international observers gave up tracking it. The honest summary:
2016. The concession goes to the Anaklia Development Consortium, a Georgian-American venture led by TBC Holding. Work begins on the early phases.
2019. The project becomes politically contentious. A dispute with the Georgian state and the criminal prosecution of TBC Holding’s principal figure, Mamuka Khazaradze, follow, and the financing stalls.
2020. The government terminates the contract. The unfinished works sit idle for three years.
2023. The state revives the project with a 51 percent stake and looks for a private partner for the rest.
2024. In May a consortium of China Communications Construction Company and Singapore-registered China Harbour Investment is named the winning bidder (Civil Georgia). In August the Belgian company Jan De Nul wins the tender for the maritime works, the dredging and the breakwater (Civil Georgia).
2026. In April the investment agreement with the Chinese-led consortium is still unsigned, and a review of the $203.9 million dredging and breakwater contract cuts its cost by $52.5 million (Georgia Today). On 6 July the government replaces the single-investor plan with a state-owned landlord model. In August the first dredger starts work.
The version under way now is the state’s. The breakwater and the channel are a state contract with Jan De Nul, the terminals are to be leased to operators later, and the deal with the 2024 consortium was never completed. The earlier history matters as context but not as a forecast.
What it changes for the next decade
Four takeaways for the next ten years of Georgia’s growth.
Container shipping economics shift. Once Anaklia is operational, the cost per container for trade between East Asia and Georgia (and onward to Armenia, Azerbaijan, and beyond) should fall. This is not a tourist-facing effect, but it is the underpinning of the wider economic story that drives hospitality demand. Wealthier trading partners eventually generate more business travel.
The East-West Highway gets more freight. Cargo heading inland by road from the coast would use the same east-west highway as everyone else, including the Rikoti section that has been four-lane in full since December 2025 (details here). Expect more lorries on that corridor in the 2030s, which matters for travel-time forecasting: probably slightly slower at peaks, and still far better off-peak than the old road.
The coast gains an industrial port. A working port and a free industrial zone would turn Anaklia from a seaside village into an industrial site, and widen what “Black Sea Georgia” means beyond Batumi. Where hospitality FDI is going covers the investment side of the coast.
The country’s risk profile shrinks. A deepwater port is a long-term asset that reduces Georgia’s dependence on transit through neighbouring countries. The strategic stability that comes from controlling your own port matters for the country’s broader investment climate and, indirectly, for the tourism sector that benefits from a stable country.
The travel-side implications
For concierges and travel planners, Anaklia is a 2029 event at the earliest, not a 2026 one. Three things to know now.
For now it is a construction site. The dredging was scheduled to run to the end of 2026, and Jan De Nul expects to finish the breakwater by the end of 2027 and the first construction phase by 2029 (Ports Europe).
The access roads come later. The road and rail links are the state’s to build, and in October 2026 the rail line was still at the stage of choosing a consultant. Until they exist, Anaklia is reached by the same coast road as today.
The country’s economic story strengthens. This may seem indirect, but for corporate travel teams making medium-term commitments to Georgia (office leases, regional headquarter placement, conference programming), the deepwater port is one of the things that confirms Georgia’s seriousness as a long-term destination.
A closing note
Anaklia sits on the coast west of Zugdidi, where the road up to Svaneti begins (details here). The site has been a construction zone for nearly a decade. The version under way now differs from the earlier ones in a way that matters: the state is building the core of the port itself, with a contractor already dredging, instead of waiting on a single investor. The 2029 target may slip; this time the work is in the water.
Georgia is growing into the destination it should always have been. The port is part of that growth, the long-term part. If you’re coming and would like a car, email booking@soitblack.com to talk about a trip.
Related: Georgia’s tourism reset, The Rikoti tunnel, Where hospitality FDI is going, and Tbilisi International Airport: the expansion.