NG-NEGABARIT at BreakBulk Caspian 2024: Tbilisi, September

In late September 2024, we were in Tbilisi for BreakBulk Caspian 2024 — an international conference bringing together dozens of companies from Kazakhstan, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and beyond. Three days, one subject: how to move project and heavy cargo through the Caspian–Black Sea region.

This was a working trip, not a sightseeing one. Our director, technical director, and project manager — the people who make decisions and run the actual shipments.

Why Tbilisi, and why it mattered?

Georgia in 2024 found itself at the center of the Middle Corridor conversation — and not by accident. As northern routes became harder to use, Georgian ports turned into a strategic junction for cargo moving into Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and further into Central Asia. Batumi and Poti handle the ferry transfer across the Caspian, then Baku, then wherever the cargo needs to go.

Simple enough in theory. In practice: strained infrastructure, port backlogs, high multimodal junction costs, rail capacity shortfalls. That's what the conference talked about — plainly, without spin.

What was discussed

The program was packed: three sessions in a single working day, September 26.

The first covered South Caucasus infrastructure — throughput capacity at Georgian ports and railways, cargo insurance for project shipments, and how the major players handle logistics for energy and industrial clients.

The second was case studies: real shipments, actual numbers. Air freight for oversize cargo into remote areas, handling exceptional loads on Georgian roads, specific projects broken down in detail.

The third looked at containerization on the Middle Corridor — Flat Rack, Open-Top, Heavy Lift MPP, the Georgia–Azerbaijan–Kazakhstan route. And a separate thread on geopolitics and how it's actively reshaping routing decisions right now.

Speakers included FESCO, Maersk, Sarjak Container Lines, Hareket, and Air Charter Service. Not theorists — people who actually move this cargo.

Why this conversation mattered to us?

The Middle Corridor isn't abstract for us. Azerbaijan and Georgia are part of the routes we operate on. 

Understanding what's happening with corridor infrastructure, where the bottlenecks are, and how different players are working around them — all of that directly shapes how we plan routes and who we partner with.

BreakBulk Caspian is one of the few places where you can have that conversation face to face, with people who sit in the same chain.

What comes next?

BreakBulk Caspian is an annual event. We go back where it makes sense — where the people we work with, or will work with, actually show up.