The country's development as a logistics hub is hindered by a lack of large investments - this is the title of a study published by the Transport Corridor Research Center (TCRC).

“According to the 2023 World Bank study, according to the most important infrastructure-determining subcomponent included in the Logistics Index, Georgia ranks 108th among 138 countries.

The attractiveness of the Central Corridor is determined by the location of large transport and logistics centers throughout the country and the presence of transit cargo collection and distribution terminals.

In reality, the country has a “Transport and Logistics Strategy for 2023-2030”, but the document approved by the government does not contain any specifics about the location, specificity and investment capacity of logistics centers in Georgia.

As a result, the country has the ambition to become a logistics hub in the region, but has not yet been able to build financially viable large-scale logistics infrastructure facilities,” the study states.

According to the organization, based on the latest World Bank 2023 study, among 138 countries, Georgia is a country with partial logistics capabilities – its index is 2.7, which is far behind the indices of countries with improved capabilities (3.2 – 3.6). Georgia’s index cannot be considered a satisfactory result for a country with the ambition of becoming a logistics hub in the region. In addition, according to their own information, Georgia, in terms of infrastructure, lags behind almost all countries in the region, for comparison – Turkey – 43rd place, Armenia – 76th place, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan – 80th place, Belarus and Russia – 68th place, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine – 89th place. In fact, in terms of infrastructure, Georgia is only better than Moldova (132nd place) - writes the TCRC report.

“According to the positioning of the logistics index, it is clear that Georgia is still far from taking the place of a logistics hub in the region. One of the reasons is the lack of investment attraction in large logistics and infrastructure projects. There were some attempts to create large logistics facilities in the country,” the report notes.

In conclusion – despite the ambitious statement made by the state about transforming Georgia into a regional logistics hub, the projects of financially capacious logistics centers announced several years ago in Kumasi and Kutaisi near Tbilisi have not yet been implemented.

Due to the lack of a systematic vision of the logistics infrastructure in the country, companies are developing the infrastructure of small-capacity logistics centers and warehouses in the Tbilisi agglomeration with limited financial resources, within the framework of 10 million dollars. Such as – Tbilisi Dry Port, Tbilisi Logistics Center, GDC Logistics warehouse area, FedEX Logistics Center. Which is insufficient to service cargo flows attracted by the middle corridor.

"The volumes of financial resources invested in neighboring countries and the implemented logistics projects clearly demonstrate that Azerbaijan and Turkey fulfill the role of a logistics hub in the region," the Transport Corridor Research Center notes.