Since the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the West and Asia have explored alternative transportation routes to the Tran-Siberian Corridor, which passes through Russia. The Middle Corridor infrastructure project,[1] which traverses Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, is a viable alternative to the Trans-Siberian (aka the Northern Corridor[2]), but part of its development, the launch of the Anaklya Port in Georgia, is subject to geopolitical rivalry.
The Black Sea is home to some 65 ports across Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Turkey, Russia, and Ukraine,[3] including four in Georgia. The Anaklya Port would be not only Georgia’s biggest port but its only deep-sea port,[4] which would allow it to receive large ships[5]and process 100 million tons per year[6] or 600,000 containers of mixed goods,[7] including liquid goods.[8]
The port would undoubtedly strengthen the Middle Corridor’s capacity to serve as a viable alternative to the Northern Corridor,[9] however its location — in the northernmost part of Georgia, bordering the region of Abkhazia, which is occupied by the Russian Federation — will draw the interest of many of the world’s powers, including China, Russia, Europe, the United States, and Turkey.
This Insight looks at how the Georgian port could shift the power balance between the major powers and the upsides and downsides for each of them. The Insight will also consider these questions in the context of the arguments of American political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski, who wrote about the importance of territorial control over Eurasia.[10]
Anaklya Port Concept and Construction Controversy
Anaklya Port and the surrounding territory has a rich and ancient history, going back to the ancient Greek settlements in Western Georgia. Anaklya was a lively settlement for fishermen and at a certain time served as a hub from which Georgian slaves were exported.[11] The Soviet government initially had the idea to develop Anaklya into a transnational port in the 20th century.[12] The area was officially assessed for viability as a port by a Soviet oceanologist Zenkovich in the 1970s.[13] Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgia’s President from 2004-2013, also wanted to develop the Port, but a lawsuit with an investor shrouded the project in controversy and it was shelved.[14] In 2012, businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili became Prime Minister leading the Georgian Dream party, and the concept of building a deep-sea port resurfaced. The government issued an initial Call for Participation on August 5, 2014, and Anaklya Port was specifically mentioned in a new draft of the Georgian Constitution. “A Special Economic Zone will be created in Anaklya, which will be subject to special legal governance regime. […],” Article 7.5 of the Constitution notes.[15]
On October 3rd, 2016 the Ministry of Economy of Georgia signed an investment contract with the JSC Anaklia Development Consortium, which included the Conti Group from the U.S. and Georgian company TBC Holding LLC. Representatives of the consortium attended a ceremony celebrating the beginning of construction on December 24, 2017 along with Prime Minister George Kvirikashvili.[16] Kvirikashvili resigned, however, on June 13, 2018, amid rebukes from the ruling party.[17] According to the government, the inability to attract sufficient international investors created a financing gap and raised concerns about the project’s viability.[18] The Prosecutor’s Office brought a case against Consortium founders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze for alleged money laundering dating back a decade ago.
On January 9, 2020, Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia announced that the contract with the consortium has been terminated due to a lack of fulfillment of obligations.[19] In a subsequent arbitration hearing in front of the International Chamber of Commerce, the government was found not to have infringed on the rights of the consortium.
The government relaunched a Call for Interest in 2023[20] that stated that the first container ships should be received in the port in 2029.[21]
The Positions of Global Powers on the Anaklya Port
The U.S. has expressed its strong support for the Anaklya Port project a number of times. In 2019, for example, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an official statement during the Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze’s official visit to the Washington.[22] Pompeo said that the construction of the port will enhance Georgia’s capacity to engage with free economies, and will ensure that the country “not fall under the influence of Russia and China, that represent themselves as Georgia’s friends, however, do not represent Georgia’s interest.”[23]
On September 10, 2020, the U.S. Embassy directly criticized the participation of a Chinese company in the tender for port construction, noting that the activity of Chinese companies in developing countries is associated with low-quality building materials, violation of labor laws, and environmental harm. A spokesperson for the State Department added that China represented a threat to Georgia’s national security and sovereignty as well as to the security of its European and Atlantic partners.[24] More recently, the U.S. Helsinki Commission, an independent U.S. government agency set up to facilitate relations with Europe, expressed its concern over the potential involvement of a Chinese company in the development of the port.[25]
Relations between Georgia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have steadily deepened in the past decade,[26] and Anaklya Port is one of the projects that Beijing has shown particular interest in. When the Georgian government issued its initial Call for Participation for construction of the port in 2014, two Chinese companies — Hubei Hongyuan Power Engineering Co., Ltd. and China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd.[27] — submitted proposals, though neither advanced to the final stage.[28]
In 2018, Georgian government officials met with the then-PRC ambassador on the investment in the port and the potential free industrial zone adjacent it.[29] Both sides expressed their delight that Chinese companies were interested in participating in the Anaklya Port project.[30] The tender was relaunched in 2024 with China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC) and the Swiss-based Terminal Investment Limited Holding S.A. (TIL), a subsidiary of one of the largest transnational shipping companies MSC, reaching the final round. TIL did not present its proposal, so Georgia’s Minister of Economy, Levan Davitashvili, announced that CCCC was the winner of the contract. According to the new terms of the tender, the state of Georgia would remain the majority shareholder of 51% of the shares, while the private investor would account for 49%, however, the contract between the CCCC and the Georgian government has not been signed. Since then, China has not said much publicly about the project, other than an official statement in June 2024 rebutting the statement of the U.S. Ambassador in Georgia.[31]
The Russian Federation is obviously impacted by the construction of the Anaklya Port. One of Russia’s most important foreign policy and military objectives is dominance on the Black Sea,[32] and Anaklya represents direct competition to the port of Novorossiysk, Russia’s shipping hub on the Black Sea. Anaklya will also contribute to the efficiency of the Middle Corridor, which is in direct competition with the Northern Corridor and thus affects Russian influence over Eurasian trade. Despite these threats to their objectives, Moscow has not often spoken publicly about Anaklya, though Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin spoke to Georgian reporters in Prague three days after then-Secretary of State Pompeo’s remarks, calling them “unacceptable.” “We are interested in Georgia, its economy and its development in social, cultural and other spheres,” Karasin added. “Georgia itself must decide what to do with the port of Anaklya. However, what has been said about Russia and China [regarding their influence in Georgia] for us is not at all in a suitable tone.”[33]
Turkey is a regional power and a leader on the Black Sea with significant influence in Eurasia, including the Caucasus. Turkey has had a long-standing aspiration of dominance on the Black Sea and plays a critical role in the geopolitics of the Black Sea.[34] The Turkish government has not officially expressed its position on the Anaklya Port, although the Georgian government has made public offers to Turkish companies to participate in the construction of the port. The Georgian Ambassador to Turkey noted that the participation of Turkish companies in the consortium would be welcome due to the long-standing ties between Georgia and Turkey.[35]
Most analytical writing overlooks the interests of Turkey in relation to the port. Currently, goods from Asia are transported to Europe via Turkey using the Middle Corridor. Anaklya would present an alternative to the established route going through Turkish territory and could negatively affect Turkey, however Ankara has not made any official statement in relation to the construction of the port, perhaps because it’s building is so far into the future.
Conclusion
At this point the future of the port is unclear. Although the government made a statement earlier in May 2024, the contract with the Chinese company CCCC has not been concluded and an official winner for the government tender for port construction has not been announced. The Georgian government is silent on the delay. In September 2024, however, the Georgian government, with oversight from the Ministry of Economy,[36] entered into a contract with Belgian company Jan De Nulto conduct sea dredging operations.
In the meantime, the Georgian government pulled out of accession negotiations with the European Union on November 28, 2024. The decision led to mass protests in the country that have been taking place over 150 days.[37] Heated statements from both sides continue, as the Georgian government has criticized the EU and the governments of individual EU countries, as well as the U.S., while most of the government’s leaders have been subject to some form of Western sanctions.[38] The U.S. Congress is considering special legislation that would make sanctions even more widespread in response to the Georgian government’s geopolitical shift away from Euro-Atlantic integration.[39] This legislation aims to counter the growing influence of Russia and China in Georgia. In this context, the decision to award the contract for the port assumes even higher geopolitical importance. Will the port be subject to the Chinese influence, heightening Georgia’s tensions with the West, and significantly deepening Chinese presence in the Caucasus? Or does the delay in the formalization of the contract signal that the government intends to engage in geopolitical bargaining
[1] For more information, please see https://rsdi.ae/en/publications/the-future-of-the-middle-corridor
[2] https://middlecorridor.com/en/about-the-association/history-en
[3] https://www.marineinsight.com/know-more/major-black-sea-ports/
[4] https://jamestown.org/program/georgias-anaklia-port-and-prc-infrastructure-strategy/
[5] https://www.marineinsight.com/ports/what-are-deep-water-ports/
[6]https://www.economy.ge/uploads/news/giorgi_kvirikashvili/2014/Presentation_of_the_Anaklia_New_Deep_Sea_Port_10.07.2014_1.pdf
[7] https://www.jandenul.com/our-projects/building-new-deep-water-port-anaklia-georgia
[8] https://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/who-anaklia-port-construction-permit-will-be-granted
[9] https://jamestown.org/program/georgias-anaklia-port-and-prc-infrastructure-strategy/
[10] Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives, 1998.
[11] Abesalom Tugushi, History of Anaklya, 1991.
[12] https://www.cacianalyst.org/publications/analytical-articles/item/13609-geopolitics-doomed-georgias-anaklia-project-but-can-also-resurrect-it.html
[13] Zenkovich V.P. Fundamentals of the study of the development of the seashores. Publishing House of
the Academy Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, 1962, 710 p.
[14] https://georgianjournal.ge/business/28140-why-a-georgian-businessman-is-investing-600-million-in-armenia.html
[15] https://matsne.gov.ge/ka/document/view/30346?publication=36
[16]http://gtarchive.georgiatoday.ge/news/8629/Anaklia-Deep-Sea-Port-Construction-Officially-Launched-
[17]https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/29288896.html
[18] https://for.ge/view/115258/anakliis-Rrmawylovani-portis-mSeneblobis-Taobaze-xelSekruleba-gaformda.html
[19]https://netgazeti.ge/life/641202/
[20]https://ppp.gov.ge/en/expression-of-interest-announced-for-the-construction-of-a-new-deep-sea-port-in-anaklia/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
[21] https://bm.ge/news/ra-etapzea-jan-de-nul-is-mier-anakliis-akvatoriis-daghrmaveba
[22]https://civil.ge/archives/308115
[23] https://jam-news.net/us-secretary-of-state-to-the-georgian-authorities/
[24] https://transparency.ge/en/post/anaklia-port-be-built-chinese-company-suspicious-reputation
[25] https://www.portseurope.com/u-s-commission-expresses-concern-over-chinese-control-of-anaklia-port/
[26] For more information, Anna Dolidze, New Move on the Chessboard
[27] https://www.gov.ge/files/381_43855_299651_1375050814.pdf
[28] https://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/who-anaklia-port-construction-permit-will-be-granted
[29] https://www.economy.ge/?page=news&nw=486&s=dimitri-qumsishvilis-gancxadebit-mnishvnelovania-chineli-investorebis-daintereseba-anakliis-portita-da-tavisufali-industriuli-zonit&lang=en
[30] https://www.economy.ge/?page=news&nw=486&s=dimitri-qumsishvilis-gancxadebit-mnishvnelovania-chineli-investorebis-daintereseba-anakliis-portita-da-tavisufali-industriuli-zonit
[31] https://civil.ge/archives/613634
[32] https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/black-sea-significance-european-security
[33] https://www.interpressnews.ge/en/article/102534-grigory-karasin-georgia-should-decide-what-to-do-with-the-port-of-anaklia-but-what-we-heard-about-russia-and-china-is-not-the-tone-we-would-like-to-hear/
[34] https://www.fpri.org/article/2024/12/turkeys-evolving-geopolitical-strategy-in-the-black-sea/
[35] https://www.dailysabah.com/diplomacy/2019/05/25/georgian-ambassador-to-ankara-turkey-is-closest-friend-and-strategic-partner-of-georgia
[36] https://bm.ge/en/news/belgian-company-jan-de-nul-wins-tender-for-anaklia-port-construction
[37] https://civil.ge/archives/666987
[38] https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2759; https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-sanctions-georgian-officials-responsible-for-allowing-brutal-police-violence
[39] https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/36/text?
