Anaklia's first phase is now a 2029 date — and the contract got cheaper
On 7 October the prime minister said the first phase of the Anaklia deep sea port is expected to be completed by 2029, with the first ships arriving that year. Breakwater construction and dredging are under way. The infrastructure contract was reduced from 204 million dollars to 153 million, which he put at a 50.9 million saving for the state. Design is finished for an 18-kilometre rail link to the national network, with a railway tender expected by the end of that month.
What is physically happening on site
The works named by the infrastructure ministry are the breakwater and the dredging, which are the two items that have to exist before a terminal can be built on top of them. Dredging for the project began earlier in 2026, and the construction phase was formally launched in May. The 2029 target applies to the first phase only, so anyone reading the port as a finished asset is reading several phases ahead of the schedule that has actually been announced.
The landlord model, and who operates what
The port is being set up on a landlord model: the state owns the basic infrastructure and private or international partners operate individual terminals. That structure is common in European ports and it changes what an investor is actually buying into — a concession on a terminal rather than a share of the port. It also means the terminal operators are a separate set of future announcements from the construction contracts being signed now.
Why the rail link matters more than the berths
An 18-kilometre spur to the national rail network is the part of this project that determines whether cargo actually moves inland, and the design for it is reported as complete, with the World Bank running a market study and a tender expected. The prime minister also said ship reception procedures have fallen from 24 hours to one hour through digitalisation. For a tourism operator or a developer in Samegrelo and the coastal strip, the practical signal is construction employment and freight traffic over the next three years, not a working container port tomorrow.
Written by us from the source linked above, not investment, legal or tax advice. Figures and rules change — confirm anything that matters before acting on it.
