📦 Logistics Performance in Georgia

Overview of Georgia's Logistics Landscape

Georgia scores 2.7 on the World Bank's Logistics Performance Index (LPI), a composite measure assessed on a scale from 1 to 5 that evaluates customs efficiency, infrastructure quality, shipment tracking, logistics competence, timeliness, and international shipping ease. While this figure places Georgia below logistics leaders like the United States (around 3.8) or the United Kingdom (approximately 3.6), it reflects a country that punches above its economic weight due to its strategic geographic position as a transit corridor between Europe, Turkey, China, and Central Asia.

Georgia's logistics story is inseparable from its geography: situated at the crossroads of the Black Sea and the Caucasus, it serves as a critical link in the emerging Middle Corridor (Trans-Caspian International Transport Route), which connects China to Europe via Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey — bypassing Russia entirely. This geopolitical positioning has attracted significant international investment and political attention since 2022.

Key Transport Infrastructure

Georgia's logistics network is built around three pillars: the Black Sea ports, the east-west rail corridor, and the highway system connecting Tbilisi to its borders.

The Port of Poti, operated by APM Terminals (a subsidiary of A.P. Møller–Mærsk), is Georgia's largest container port, handling approximately 300,000–350,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) annually. It provides direct connections to Constanța (Romania), Istanbul, and Odesa (when accessible), and serves as the primary entry point for containerized goods from Europe and Turkey. APM Terminals completed a major expansion in 2019, adding gantry cranes and deepening the berth to accommodate Panamax-class vessels.

The Port of Batumi, located further south near the Turkish border, historically focused on oil transit (linked to the Baku-Supsa pipeline and the Western Route Export Pipeline) but has diversified into dry bulk, ro-ro ferries to Varna (Bulgaria) and Ilyichevsk (Ukraine), and growing container traffic. Batumi's port is managed by Batumi Sea Port LLC, with majority ownership held by Kazakh interests.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway, inaugurated in 2017, is the only rail link between the South Caucasus and Turkey (and by extension, the European rail network). It was built with Azerbaijani financing and Turkish engineering support, and has a current capacity of approximately 1 million tons of freight per year, with plans to scale to 5 million tons. The BTK railway is a critical segment of the Middle Corridor and has become strategically more important following Western sanctions on Russian transit routes.

Customs and Trade Facilitation

Georgia has invested heavily in customs modernization. The Revenue Service of Georgia (under the Ministry of Finance) operates a fully electronic customs declaration system (ASYCUDA World, developed by UNCTAD), which allows pre-arrival processing, risk-based inspection selection, and electronic payment of duties. Average customs clearance time for green-channel shipments is under 2 hours — a performance that compares favorably with many EU member states and significantly outpaces most countries in the post-Soviet space.

Georgia maintains deep trade integration through free trade agreements with the EU (DCFTA, since 2014), Turkey, China (since 2018), CIS countries, and EFTA states. The EU DCFTA alone eliminated tariffs on over 95% of goods traded between Georgia and the EU, making Tbilisi an attractive regional distribution hub for European goods destined for Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Central Asian markets.

The World Bank's Doing Business reports (before the series was discontinued in 2021) consistently ranked Georgia in the top 10 globally for ease of trading across borders, citing the speed of documentary compliance (2 hours for export, 2 hours for import) and low costs. This legacy continues under the successor B-READY assessment framework.

Last-Mile Delivery and Express Services

International express carriers — DHL, FedEx, and UPS — all operate in Tbilisi, offering door-to-door delivery with typical transit times of 3–5 business days from Western Europe or the United States. DHL operates its own service center on Politkovskaya Street in Tbilisi; FedEx uses local partner TBC Courier; UPS partners with an authorized service contractor.

For domestic and regional last-mile delivery, Glovo (the Spanish-founded platform) dominates food and parcel delivery in Tbilisi and Batumi. Georgian Post (Sakartvelos Posta) handles standard parcel delivery nationwide, including to remote areas, though delivery times to mountain regions can stretch to 7–10 business days. Local courier companies like Sameday Delivery (SDS) and Express Post offer same-day and next-day options within Tbilisi for 5–15 GEL (USD 2–6).

Challenges and Bottlenecks

Despite strong trade facilitation metrics, Georgia's LPI score of 2.7 reflects real weaknesses. Road infrastructure between Tbilisi and the ports (the E60 highway to Poti/Batumi) is heavily trafficked and partially single-carriageway, leading to congestion and accident risks. The Rikoti Pass section — a Soviet-era route through the Likhi Range — is undergoing a major tunnel bypass project (Rikoti Tunnel, expected completion 2027–2028, financed by ADB and JICA), which will cut travel time by approximately 45 minutes and eliminate winter closures.

Warehouse and cold-chain infrastructure outside Tbilisi remains limited. While Tbilisi has several modern logistics parks (including the East Point Logistics Center and facilities near Tbilisi International Airport), Kutaisi and regional cities lack Class A warehouse space. This constrains distribution for temperature-sensitive goods, particularly pharmaceuticals and fresh produce.

The Middle Corridor, while strategically important, is still building capacity. Total corridor throughput in 2024 was approximately 2.7 million tons — a significant increase from pre-2022 levels but still a fraction of the Northern Corridor (through Russia) which handled over 1.5 million containers annually at its peak. Scaling the Middle Corridor requires coordinated investment across Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, with the Caspian Sea ferry crossing remaining the primary bottleneck.

Practical Relevance for Expats and Businesses

For expats and digital nomads, Georgia's logistics environment means that ordering goods from Europe or the US is straightforward but not instant. Amazon does not offer direct Prime shipping to Georgia, but freight-forwarding services like USA2Georgia, OnTrak, and Farvater consolidate packages from US and European addresses and deliver to Tbilisi for USD 5–10 per kilogram. Typical transit from a US warehouse to a Tbilisi doorstep is 10–18 business days via sea freight or 5–7 days via air consolidation.

For businesses, Georgia's combination of low tariffs (0% on most EU, Chinese, and Turkish goods), fast customs, and geographic positioning makes it a genuinely compelling regional logistics node — albeit one that still requires patience with road and rail constraints when moving goods beyond Tbilisi.

This article was created on April 19, 2026