Seven firms and consortia have been shortlisted by Georgian government commission for a deep-sea Anaklia port project.

The Georgian government announced call for expression of interest on design, construction and operation of deep-see port in Anaklia with an initial capacity to handle 7 million tons and gradually increasing its capacity to at least 40 million tons in twelve years in July, 2014.

12 firms and consortia submitted bids. The Economy Ministry first announced about shortlisting seven bidders in December, but it made the list public on January 22.

The shortlist includes:

• Terminal Investment Limited SA, a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest container shippers Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC);
• Bouygues Travaux Publics, part of French industrial group Bouygues;
• China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd, a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC);
• A consortium of Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co. and its Singapore-headquartered port operator subsidiary Portek International Pte Ltd;
• Anaklia Development Consortium, a venture launched specifically for this purpose by TBC Bank’s supervisory board chairman, Mamuka Khazaradze, who has teamed up in the project with U.S. company Conti Group, a developer and builder of capital asset projects;
• A consortium of Anaklia Industrial Eco-Park and Port, a company founded by Georgian businessman Teimuraz Karchava, who owns businesses in Russia and Georgia and who is also linked to a planned thermal power plant in Vanadzor, Armenia; British Eco Power and Hubei Hongyuan Power Engineering Co., a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina);
• A consortium of the U.S. engineering design company AECOM and DİA Holding, UAE-based company controlled by Intersun and Turkish construction firm IC Holding; DİA Holding has been active in Azerbaijan winning construction contracts there worth billions of U.S. dollars;

Deputy Economic Minister, Irma Kavtaradze, said on January 22 that the shortlisted bidders will have to submit “additional proposals” to the Georgian government commission before April 16 and after that the list will be winnowed down to two or three bidders from which the government will have to select one.

A contract with a winning bidder will be signed “no later than September, 2015” and the construction should start by June, 2016, the deputy economy minister said.

Georgia’s Black Sea ports in Poti and Batumi are capable of handling only feeder vessels, carrying maximum of 1,700 containers. Larger, panamax size vessels with Georgia-bound cargo use other ports in the region, mostly in Istanbul, where containers are reloaded to feeder ships which then head to Poti and Batumi.