A U.S.-Georgian consortium has been awarded a $2.5 billion contract to build and develop a deep-sea port in Anaklia on Georgia’s Black Sea coast.

The joint venture between Georgia’s TBC Holding LLC and Conti International LLC, a New Jersey-based capital project developer, hopes to start the construction of the port by the end of 2016 and finish it in three years.

The completed facility will serve as a transshipment port for up to 100 million tons of cargo per year moving between Europe and Asia and be able to berth 10,000-TEU container ships.

Currently, newer generation containerships with cargo moving in and out of Georgia call primarily at Istanbul, Turkey, where containers are reloaded to feeder ships which then are transported to Poti and Batumi, Georgia’s only Black Sea ports, which can only accommodate smaller feeder ships with a maximum capacity of 1,700 TEUs.

“We are looking forward to breaking ground and working with the government of Georgia to help forge new paths from Asia to Europe as well as unlocking the economic potential of Georgia’s neighbors,” said Kurt Conti, Conti International’s CEO and president, was quoted as saying in a statement released by Georgia’s Economy and Sustainable Development Ministry.

The consortium is expected to raise investment from international financial institutions and port operators, who will be selected within the next six months, the ministry said, adding the consortium has also been awarded the right to develop an industrial free trade zone on about 1,500 acres of land adjacent to the port.