The Ukrainian Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Seaport and the Georgian Poti port are looking to launch a new rail ferry. The future service across the Black Sea would look to meet and boost Middle Corridor demand.
Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Seaport and APM Terminals Poti, the owner of the Poti port, have signed a memorandum of cooperation to that end within the framework of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) association.
The two ports will be working on a new ferry route and a road-rail ferry complex, the Ukrainian port’s CEO Oksana Kiktenko says on Facebook. “The goal of the memorandum is to attract cargo traffic through the Middle Corridor, which will pass through Ukraine via a new railway route – the Bessarabia Route (Ukraine-Moldova-Romania), and to establish and develop mutually beneficial cooperation between the two ports.”
Ukraine used the Bessarabia route intensely during Russia’s naval blockade of its ports. When Kyiv managed to secure the maritime trade routes, rail freight traffic through Moldova dried up fast as goods returned to ports in and around Odesa.
The return of Ukrainian freight to maritime shipping led to problems for the Moldovan Railways, which had profited greatly from Ukrainian transit. In order to boost rail traffic to Romania, Moldova is now looking to reopen a rail bridge across the border. That could also boost capacity for future Ukrainian freight on the way to the EU.