For the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has resumed ferry service with Georgia – on March 18 and 26, two trips were made from the port of Chornomorsk to Batumi, and a third is planned for the near future. This was announced by the Director of Commercial Work and Logistics of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia, Timofey Murakhovsky, at a meeting dedicated to the restoration of the ferry route within the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR).
The project is being implemented in cooperation with the shipping company Ukrferry (Odessa) and its subsidiary UZ Cargo Poland (Warsaw). The first trips in March were carried out without a public announcement, but now UZ is calling on businesses to use the route more actively. This opens up new prospects for the transit of goods from China through the Caspian Sea, Baku and the Black Sea to Europe.
As part of the integration into the TITR route, Ukrzaliznytsia plans to register UZ Cargo East in Kazakhstan and use the ferries Geroi Plevny and Geroi Shipki to transport container trains. Previously, these vessels were planned to be transferred to the State Property Fund as non-core assets.
In March, UZ Cargo Poland became an associate member of the International TITR Association, and the Chairman of the Board of UZ Alexander Pertsovsky took part in a meeting in Baku. There, he confirmed active work to restore the ferry route, which is of strategic importance for logistics and economic cooperation between the countries.