International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) said its Georgia operation under Batumi International Container Terminal (BICT) has added COSCO Shipping Lines’ subsidiary, Diamond Line’s TBX1 service, to its list of lines to be serviced.
The 1,200-TEU TBX1 feeder service commenced its weekly calls at BICT in late October with the arrival of M/V AS Fatima.
The new service directly calls at the Port of Piraeus in the Mediterranean, COSCO Shipping’s Med hub, 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, and the ports of Constanta in Romania and Varna in Bulgaria in the Black Sea, which enable a weekly and short transit time connection within the region,” ICTSI said.
“In conjunction with the new feeder service, Middle Corridor containers to/from block trains can be loaded into this Diamond Line feeder service for further connection with Europe, to/from Constanta port. This new land bridge provides 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,” it added.
Diamond Line GmbH (a subsidiary of COSCO Shipping Lines) operates Intra-Europe service and connections.
Nikoloz Gogoli, BICT chief executive officer, said the new services highlight the strategic importance of the Batumi port to facilitate both regional and global trade. It also presents the terminal with a good opportunity to further expand its role in the Black sea region.
BICT operates a multipurpose terminal at the Port of Batumi in Georgia. ICTSI has been active in the port of Batumi since 2007 when it acquired a 48-year lease to operate a multi-purpose terminal with exclusivity for container handling.
