ArmInfo. The terminal in Ochamchira has successfully completed test vessel calls and has already created its first jobs, according to participants of the Abkhaz International Economic Forum.
Business representatives noted that this transport hub could become an analog of the transport corridor to Armenia via Abkhazia and Georgia. Participants added that the new route could become an alternative to the congested Verkhniy Lars border crossing, located on the Georgian-Russian border.
According to Abkhazia's Minister of Economy, Adgur Mikvabia, it is necessary to utilize existing infrastructure.
"The long-term plan is to restore the Ochamchira-Gal section and the bridge, which will allow for full- fledged transit without overloading existing routes," he said, according to Gazeta.ru.
Oktay Khazirishi, Deputy General Director of Transecosystem, stated that Russian businesses are greatly interested in cargo transit through Abkhazia.
"Intermodal transit from Abkhazia can be organized-land, rail, sea, and the Black Sea ports of the Republic of Turkey. And the second option is land transit, meaning end-to-end transit through Abkhazia," he noted.
According to him, potential clients are already organizing the logistics of their cargo to eastern Turkey via Azerbaijan.
"In order to optimize routes, reduce their transport costs, and shorten delivery times, they are approaching us to theoretically explore how transit would work if organized overland through the border crossings of the Republic of Abkhazia," Khazirishi said.
The Ochamchira Container Terminal was commissioned in early 2025. Four container trains have already been processed in test mode for export from Russia to third countries and Turkey.
As early as 2021, there were reports that the Abkhaz parliament had submitted a statement to the Russian State Duma declaring that the republic was ready to participate on equal terms in the project to open a railway connection between Russia and Armenia through Abkhazia.
According to research by the British NGO International Alert, the reconstruction of the Abkhaz railway, which has been inactive since 1991, along the Sochi-Sukhumi-Tbilisi-Yerevan route will cost $277.5 million, a cost that will not be recouped for at least 100 years. $251 million is required to restore the 190- kilometer Abkhaz section of the Psou-Inguri line, while from Inguri to Zugdidi, the cost is only $26.5 million. From Zugdidi to Tbilisi and further to Yerevan, the road is operational and requires no repairs. It's noteworthy that, according to official estimates by Abkhaz experts, this cost is $350-400 million, while their Georgian counterparts estimate it will require no more than $73 million.
