The ferry transporting Armenia’s cargo from the Russian “Caucasus” harbor arrived at the Poti harbor on Tuesday. The Caucasus-Poti ferry was supposed to make its first test trip on March 15, but it didn’t. Owner of the ferry, representative of the “Reserve Capital Corporation” Kiril Lapsheyev, clarified that there was no final agreement on the reception of the ferry and types of cargo to be loaded at the “Caucasus” harbor. Let us recall that “Caucasus” is a Russian harbor and there were problems with coming to terms with the Russian side.
In reality, Armenian loaders have not waited for the Caucasus-Poti ferry since this April 15 of this year, rather for many years now. They used to complain in the past that there is no government support for the procurement of a ferry that will function only for Armenia. From time to time Armenia’s cargo was transported by the ships of different countries arriving in Poti, and those ships used to raise their bargain prices. Last year, when Georgian-Russian relations tensed, transportation of Armenia’s cargo was in a terrible situation. Then the Russians and Georgians started to not accept the cargo of each country at the harbors. It is clear that the tense relations between Russia and Georgia were a blow for Armenia’s foreign cargo circulation. Armenian transporters relied on the Poti-Ilyicheyevisk-Burgas-Poti ferry, which was making its round-trip in the Black Sea in the course of seven days. After the closing of the Higher Lars, the freight cars transporting Armenian and Georgian cargo took a new course towards the Poti harbor so that the cargo could be transported by ship along with the other cargo in the wagons. It is understandable that after that there was a far larger load at the Poti harbor. Cargo was in line for days, even weeks in order to be able to be loaded on deck. It is understandable that the Armenian wagons and cars waited the longest. First there were the Russian and Bulgarian cargo, then the Ukrainian and Georgian cargo and finally, if there was any space, the Armenian cargo was loaded in the ferry. If not, then the Armenians had to wait for the next round-trip.
On this background the appearance of the Caucasus-Poti harbor would really be a savior for Armenian businessmen and cargo transporters. Armenia would have had a ferry for itself and Armenians would not have to wait long at the harbors to load their cargo. Besides that, in April, when presses informed about the functioning of the ferry, Minister of Transportation and Communication of Armenia Andranik Manukyan and Jaquim Matchanov announced that the bargain prices for cargo transportation would be comparably cheap. However, the ferry that we had dreamed of did not make everyone happy.
“Based on my data, this ferry is not suitable for the transportation of cargo-carrying cars,” says president of the “Tir” cargo transportation association Herbert Hambartsumyan. “As far as I know, that ferry doesn’t have any compartments. The trip from Poti to the “Caucasus” harbor is a 30-hour trip and during that time, it is clear that the drivers need a place to sleep and rest. As far as I know, the ferry doesn’t have those conditions. They won’t let the drivers sleep in the car because the cars are stored just like the wagons. What can the driver do during those 30 hours? No driver or no car owner will load his car on the ferry and then come to “Caucasus” harbor by other route, or come to Poti from “Caucasus”. It is unreal and is unprecedented. If that is the ferry that I know of, if our information is accurate, then it will not help the automobile cargo transporters. Of course, I would want to be mistaken and to have my information not correspond to the reality.”
Food products and cargo that breaks down easily are transported by automobile, and they form a large part of the entire cargo transportation. It turns out that that Armenian cargo is going to rely on the same Poti-Ilyicheyevsk-Burgas-Poti ferry, wait for days at the harbors, and go in circles in the Black Sea. It is hard to say why Armenian government officials did not take this into consideration when looking for a cargo transporter. Wasn’t it possible to work with a company whose ships would have been suitable for freight car transportation as well? Besides that, Kh. Matchanov announced that the ferry had just been constructed and that it was especially made for Armenian cargo. Didn’t Armenian negotiators realize before the construction of the ferry that we also transport cargo by car and that the ferry must have the corresponding conditions, or was there simply nobody who cared about our demands and we always satisfy ourselves with the least amount of possibilities?
During the past years, Armenian cargo transporters kept on expressing the opinion that it would be better if the ferry was owned by Armenia or Armenian businessmen, especially since it does not require a huge amount of expenditures. This ferry in particular, according to the director and owner of the company Kh. Matchanov, costs nearly 20 million dollars. If desired and especially in the case of the state and, as they like to say, constructive mentality, that much money could be found in Armenia, especially since the ferry would bring profits. But apparently Armenian authorities and businessmen are not interested in that.