How to get a container out of the port: Poti and Batumi step by step
A container that has been discharged is not yet a container you can collect. Between the crane and your truck stand four separate gates, each controlled by a different party — the shipping line, the customs authority and the terminal — and none of them will let you skip ahead. The order is fixed, and the clock on storage and detention is already running while you work through it. Here is the sequence as it actually plays out in Poti and Batumi.
The four gates
| Gate | What happens | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Release from the line | the original bill of lading is surrendered, or a telex release is confirmed, and the line is paid in full — ocean freight plus destination charges | without this the line simply does not issue the Delivery Order, and nothing else can start |
| 2. Delivery Order | the carrier or its agent at destination issues the D/O — the instruction to the terminal to hand the box over | this is the document the terminal actually acts on |
| 3. Customs clearance | the import declaration is lodged and cleared; inspection may be ordered | cargo cannot leave the terminal uncleared, whatever the line has released |
| 4. Terminal and gate-out | terminal charges and any storage are settled, the box is picked up and inspected at the gate, and the EIR records its condition on hand-over | the EIR is what protects you later in a damage dispute |
The mistake that costs the most is treating these as parallel. They are strictly sequential: the terminal will not release against a customs clearance if the line has not issued the D/O, and customs will not clear cargo the line has not released. Every day spent discovering this is a day of storage.
Gate one: release from the line
The carrier hands over cargo only against the bill of lading. Either the original is surrendered, or the shipper arranges a telex release — a confirmation from the load port that the originals have been given up there, so nothing has to travel by courier. Alongside that the line wants to be paid in full: ocean freight and the destination-side charges. Only then does it issue the Delivery Order.
This is where most delays are born, and almost always outside the port. Originals stuck with a bank under a letter of credit, a supplier who has not released the telex because the last payment has not landed, an invoice from the line nobody forwarded to accounts. None of it is visible at the terminal — the box simply is not released, and no amount of pressure on the terminal changes that. Check the release status before the vessel arrives, not after.
Gate two: customs
The import declaration is lodged and cleared, and customs may order an inspection. A released container is not a cleared container: the line’s permission and the state’s permission are separate things, and the terminal needs both. Get the document set right in advance — see shipping documents — because a correction at this stage is measured in days, and those days are billable.
Gate three: the terminal and the gate-out
Terminal charges and any accrued storage are settled, the truck is ordered, the container is picked up and inspected as it leaves. That inspection is recorded on the EIR — the equipment interchange receipt, which fixes the condition of the box at hand-over. Read it and keep it. If damage is later disputed, the EIR is the only document that says what the container looked like when it left the terminal, and reconstructing that afterwards is impossible.
The clock you did not start
Two different meters run in parallel, and confusing them is expensive. Demurrage accrues while the full container sits inside the terminal past its free time. Detention accrues once you have taken the box out and have not yet returned it empty. Free time is commonly around three to five days from discharge, but it is a term of your contract with the line, not a law — check the number you actually have rather than the number you assume.
The practical consequence: the moment the container leaves the gate, the meter changes but does not stop. This is the single fact that decides how far inland a container can sensibly travel — and it is why cargo bound beyond the Caucasus is usually transloaded rather than carried in the box.
Where this happens: the Georgian terminals
| Site | What it is | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| APM Terminals Poti | the main container terminal of the country — roughly 80% of Georgia’s container traffic passes through it | bonded and general warehousing on site; the port has 15 berths, 2,900 m of quay, 29 cranes and 22 km of rail inside the perimeter |
| Pace Group, Poti | a separate terminal area within the same port | widens the options when the main terminal is congested |
| BICT, Batumi (ICTSI) | berths 4 and 5, 284 m of quay, 11 m alongside, capacity around 230,000 TEU a year | a container freight station with a 180 m rail spur built for cross-stuffing from containers into rail cars, plus expanded container and truck yards and a two-lane gate |
| Batumi fairway | 11.5 m of draught after dredging — the deepest in Georgia | larger feeder vessels can call, which matters for schedule reliability |
We work with all the main terminals in both ports, which in practice means the choice of terminal is a planning decision rather than a constraint: where the line calls, where there is space, where the onward leg is cheapest to organise. The Batumi rail spur matters specifically because cross-stuffing into rail cars there is a built facility rather than an improvisation — and we run that transfer in both directions.
Where it usually goes wrong
Almost none of it happens at the terminal. In our experience the recurring causes are these:
- The telex release that never came — the supplier is waiting for a payment nobody told you about
- An unpaid line invoice — freight settled, destination charges overlooked, D/O withheld
- A declaration that needs correcting — a code, a weight or a value that does not match the documents
- Free time assumed rather than checked — the contract says three days, the plan assumed seven
- No truck booked for the release date — clearance granted, storage still accruing while transport is found
- An EIR signed without reading it — pre-existing damage accepted as yours
Development prospects
Both ports are moving in the same direction: more capacity and better inland connection. Batumi has dredged its fairway to 11.5 m — the deepest draught in Georgia — and built the rail-served container freight station; Poti is expanding, with a free industrial zone alongside and 22 km of rail inside the perimeter. Add the Tbilisi Dry Port as a documented inland transfer point and digital customs, and the release cycle gets shorter and more predictable through this decade. For an importer that means fewer days billed and a plan that survives contact with the schedule.
How ABU JORJIA helps
We take the whole release cycle: chasing the line for the D/O, the customs file, terminal settlement, the truck at the gate, and the EIR checked rather than signed blind. Road freight is our core business, so the container is collected by the same operator that carries it onward — no handover gap where the storage meter runs while two companies email each other. See Georgia as a transit country.
Summary
Release from the line, Delivery Order, customs, gate-out — in that order, with a meter running throughout. Nothing here is difficult; it is simply unforgiving of being done out of sequence or discovered late. Get the release status confirmed before the vessel berths, know your real free time, and have the truck booked for the day clearance lands. ABU JORJIA runs this end to end in Poti and Batumi — send us the arrival details.
Get your container moving