Georgia’s Batumi International Container Terminal (BICT), International Container Terminal Services, Inc.’s (ICTSI’s) operation in the Black Sea region, received the inaugural vessel call of COSCO Shipping Lines’ subsidiary, Diamond Line’s TBX1 service.
The 1,200 TEU TBX1 feeder service commenced its weekly calls at BICT in late October with the arrival of AS Fatima. The new service directly calls at the Greek port of Piraeus in the Mediterranean, from where Batumi and the Caucus region are connected to the rest of the world.
Additional ports in the service rotation include Istanbul in Turkey, Constanta in Romania, and Varna in Bulgaria in the Black Sea, enabling a weekly and short transit time connection within the region.
The aim of this new service is to provide shippers from Asia with a competitive transit time to the Caucus markets and, via the port of Batumi, to the rest of the Mediterranean region and especially with Constanta port.
“These new services highlight the strategic importance of our port to facilitate both regional and global trade and present us with a good opportunity to further expand our role in the region. We are excited to have been selected by COSCO Shipping as their terminal of choice in Georgia for both all water and rail-bound cargo,” commented Nikoloz Gogoli, BICT chief executive officer.
