As of This Week, Also the Railway Will Be Used to Transport Cargo;

Logistics Working Group Meeting, Tbilisi, 09 Sept 2008
______
Subject: / LOGISTICS WORKING GROUP MEETING
Date/
Location: / Tuesday, 09 September, 14-15:15h
WFP,Tbilisi, Georgia
Present: / Chair:WFP
Attendees:12Representatives from 9 agencies: CRS, IOCC, IOM, MercyCorps, Oxfam, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNOMIG, WFP

1 HIGHLIGHTS

In Gori a second warehouse (750 sqm) has been identified and rented and is available to all agencies;
As of this week, also the railway will be used to transport cargo;
The Russian observation-points around Poti are reported to be removed within the next day or two.
The estimated number of Beneficiaries in Tbilisi went down to 39.000;
WFP is providing food assistance to around 50,000 persons in Gori and the area;
Reminder: WFP is offering coordination and logistics services to all agencies free of charge for a period of 3 months (free transport, free warehousing). This was enabled by USAID: 1 Million USD donation;

2 SECURITY

Phase IV is in effect for South Ossetia and phase II for the rest of Georgia.
Access to villages North of Gori remains problematic for agencies providing humanitarian assistance, particularly through Kareleti and Variani. The attempt to access those villages beyond the Russian military check-points remained unsuccessful for a number of agencies within the last days. ICRC, Merlin and MercyCorps were allowed to access the area beyond the check-points in the past.
Experience has shown that trucks/convoys with a low profile and as neutral as possible are more likely to pass through.
Permission for access has to be requested through OSCE.
The Russian observation-points around Poti are reported to be removed within the next days.

3 AIR

As reported previously, Kutaisi airport is still not operational. The Government is clearing and repairing the area so that the airport can be used again before the end of September;
Airlifts: there is one more UNICEF charter flight expected to come in tomorrow (Wednesday, 10 Sept);

4 ROAD

As reported previously, the roads are intact and open;
More truck loads will be coming in by road from Turkey (Gaziantep, Mersin);

5 SEA / RIVER

Ports in Poti and Batumi are operational; however Batumi port is not well equipped and can only handle 2-3 railcarsat a time. Poti port is much faster and hence recommended;

6 RAIL

As of this week also the railway will be used to transport cargo (from Poti to Tbilisi).
Assessment of Gori railway station is under way. Problem in Gori: there is no customs clearance office in place; hence the clearance of cargo will have to be done in Poti or Tbilisi.
Advantage of using the railway is that it is cheaper (USD 30-32/mt) than sending cargo by truck (USD 50-55/mt).

7 TRANSPORT & SUPPLY CHAIN

Warehouses for inter-agency use are located in a) Tbilisi, 3.500 sqm available b) Poti, 2.000 sqm availablec) Gori, 1.000 sqm available. Due to the limited offload capacity inthe warehouse in Gori (one truck at a time), a second warehouse (750 sqm) has been identified and rented, only 200m away from the first one. All agencies are invited to store their relief items there.
Organisations already benefiting from the common services in Tbilisi are NRC, Oxfam, Save the Children and UNICEF. SC and UNICEF are also using the warehouse in Gori.

WFP confirms that transportation can also be arranged in other locations than Tbilisi, Gori and Poti.

8 BORDER CROSSING & CUSTOMS

The border from Turkey is open to humanitarian and/or commercial traffic;
Reminder: Joint Customs Service: IOM offers to act as a consignee (selectively, not for everything and to be re-confirmed); IOM has offices in Batumi and Kutaisi;

9 FUEL

Availability of petrol, diesel, kerosene is not an issue, no fear of shortage;
Prices are stable;

10UPDATE FROM THE AGENCIES

CRS

Focus on Abkhazia region and Kodori Gorge;
Distribution of plastic buckets, supplementary food, supplementary NFIs and supplementary hygiene kits;
Made proposal for winterization, however, donors’ opinion is that it isn’t a priority and focus should be rather on livelihoods; new proposal has been written in regards of training IDPs to rehabilitate centred;

IOCC

Distribution of complementary food to around 2,000 beneficiaries in Gori last week;
Potatoes, canned meat and buckwheat has been purchased locally;

IOM

Continued with the distribution in Western Georgia last week;
Covered 18 collective centres in Tbilisi, 7 in Kutaisi and 2 Batumi;
Reached 4,700 beneficiaries so far;
IOM is running out of resources due to limited support from donors; might have to close this operation very soon; awaiting Governments’ strategy plan, maybe then donors respond again;
IOM suggests that UNHCR, WFP and WHO is checking one specific collective centre (the former Russian military headquarters) in Tbilisi; not only that hey do not have electricity, they also don’t have sufficient food and no medical assistance;

MercyCorps

Started on 13 August with food distribution and reached 4,000 beneficiaries;
Then focused on NFIs in Tbilisi, Gori and South of Gori;
Managed to access the area beyond the Russian check-point North of Gori and distributed hygiene kits;
Are using the UNHCR warehouse in Gori, but are interested in using the inter-agency warehouse too;
All the distribution was done in collaboration with UNHCR and the Government;

OXFAM

Progress with the distribution of household items and hygiene kits;
Reached 4,300 beneficiaries so far;
Wat/San approachto rehabilitate a number of collective centres in Tbilisi;
Reached 90% of Oxfam’s initial distribution plan;

UNHCR

Received an immediate request yesterday for 2,500 matrices, 3,000 blankets and 500 sleeping bags;
MercyCorps immediately responded and provided 1,900 matrices, 1256 blankets and 300 sleeping bags;
USAID provided 993 sleeping bags and 652 hygiene kits;
Have a warehouse in Gori with limited capacity, no forklifts available;

UNICEF

a plane arrived last Saturday bringing in more family kits, recreation kits, basic hygiene kits;
1 more cargo plane is expected to arrive forthcoming Wednesday (Sept 10th), bringing in more water distribution equipment and jerry cans;
5 trucks are coming in by road (expected arrival: Sept 11th-14th) with more family kits, nutrition equipment, “Ready-to-use”-supplementary-food and wat/san material (e.g. tanks, latrine slabs);
education kits will go out to schools through the Ministry of Education;
UNICEF has ½ mt disinfection tablets in storage, which are offered to all agencies;

UNOMIG

UNOMIG patrols in Gali have resumed;
Aviation support is planned until the end of September, but can be extended if requested;
Crossing-point at Inguri bridge are controlled by Russian forces, but there is no restriction on travel for local population;

11AOB

WFP is working on a consolidated stock report, which aims to reflect the stock of as many NGOs/Agencies as possible. This report shall be updated on a regular basis and be shared with all, in order to get a better insight of items stored in the warehouses in country. Please submit your stock figures (totals only) to

List of attendees:

NGO/Agency / Name / Function / E-mail / Phone
CRS / GEETS,
Peter / TA Emergency Ops / / 8 77 79 68 24
IOCC / KAKAURIDZE, Nino / Human. Resp. Coordinator / / 8 77 41 22 40
IOM / GVILAVA,
Lado / Senior Logistics Coord. / / 8 99 21 17 65
IOM / KHARASHVILI, Sophie / Resource Mgmt Officer / / 8 99 91 28 20
MERCYCORPS / SARALISHVILI, Mikheil / Procurement/Log Manager / / 8 99 33 05 53
OXFAM / PLOQUIN, Laurent / Logistics Manager / / 8 91 22 52 94
UNHCR / SHVELIDZ, Teimucaz / Senior Supply / / 8 99 19 18 17
UNICEF / TAYLOR,
Tony / Logistics Officer / / 8 91 22 52 87
UNOMIG / LINARES,
Juan Carlos / Admin/Aviation Officer / / 8 99 51 01 94
WFP / Chair / JOVCEV, Vladimir / Logistics Officer / / 8 91 60 1031
WFP / MACHAIDZE, Lasha / Logistics Assistant / / 8 99 55 55 82
WFP / HILDEBRAND, Katja / Information Officer / / 8 95 33 46 24

Next meeting:

The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 16 Sept 2008 at 14:00h in the WFP office.

End.

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