Digital Journalism for Eastern Europe » Georgia

The Man on BusinessContact

Ana Tshhovrebova — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 13:50:52 +0000

Production Data
Shot in Tbilisi, October 23, 2015
Script, Production, Camera: Anna Tskhovrebova
Used Video Gear: Sony Xperia Z (13.1 MP, 4128X3096 pixels)
Edited with: Premiere Elements 13

Summary

BusinessContact and BusinessMorning are two TV programs that are both connected to one person – Giorgi Isakadze. He was the person to gather a team in the winter of 2014 and, despite a lot of skepticism about whether business news-oriented shows would attract viewers, the team is now producing one of the most popular TV programs covering business and economics in Georgia. The programs always address the most recent developments in the business world and are aired three times a day (8.00 am, 12.30 pm, 6.30 pm) on the privately owned Georgian language channel Maestro TV. The author of this article, Anna Tskhovrebova, is a member of the team. She is a senior reporter for BusinessContact, which means that she and her cameraman are always at the center of developments connected to business and economics in the country. This time she tried to be camerawoman, editor and author all at once and chose her boss as the hero for her first experiment.

About Giorgi Isakadze

Giorgi’s career started long before his projects at Maestro TV. From 1994 to 1996, he worked as an editor in chief for the Banks and Finances Magazine and, in 1995, moved to the Georgian National Television Channel 1 (now Public Broadcaster of Georgia) as an author and narrator of the telecast “Sakme” (Business), where he stayed until 2000. Afterwards, he went on to the public sector and served as Head of the Anti-Monopoly Service of the Georgian Government, continuing as the assistant to the President for Budgetary and Fiscal Policy and ending on the position of Deputy State Minister of Georgia, which he held until 2003. Until he became the head of business programs at Maestro TV in 2014, he spent a long time in the private sector as the Executive Director of the Federation of Georgian Businessmen, First Vice President of the Business Association of Georgia and managing partner of several companies. In addition to this, he recently became the Editor in Chief and Managing Partner at Forbes Magazine in Georgia.

About Maestro TV

Starting as a private TV production studio in 1995, Maestro TV has become one of Georgia’s most popular cable television channels and is viewed by more than half of Tbilisi’s total population, which is more than a million, and almost half of the cable TV viewers in the remaining regions of Georgia, accounting for approximately 600,000 people.

Interesting Links

Website of Maestro TV (in Georgian)

BusinessContact (in Georgian)

BusinessContact on Facebook (in Georgian)

Business Morning (in Georgian)

China, Russia and the Port of Hamburg

Ana Tshhovrebova — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 09:06:15 +0000

According to the Hamburg Port Authority, the 6.8 percent downturn was primarily attributable to weak foreign trade for the port’s two leading partners, China and Russia. Besides this, neither the Port Authority or the city government see a reason for worry, underlining instead that bulk cargo handling was up by more than 12 percent on the previous year, and concentrating on the diversification of activity in the port.

Seaborne cargo handling January to June 2015

Container traffic totals via Hamburg for China decreased by 10.9 percent to 1.3 million TEU and for Russia by 35.9 percent to 212,000 TEU. In the case of traffic with Russia, besides the fact that the trade sanctions are still in force,the distinct downturn in container throughput in Hamburg was also caused by other factors such as the weak ruble, the fall in the price of oil, and the economic recession.

Top 10 trading partners in seaborne container traffic January to June 2015

In addition to the weak foreign trade situation with two major partners,Wolfgang Schmidt, State Secretary to the Hamburg Senate Chancellery and Commissioner to the Federation, the European Union and for Foreign Affairs, said that the downturn was also attributable to the fact that the Euro is stronger than ever.

“This makes export harder but this [downturn] is not a trend. I do see a future for transportation and port activities and yes, it involves diversification,” Schmidt added.

Wolfgang Schmidt meets with the Interlink Academy 2015 group of journalists from Eastern European countries at the Hamburg City Hall. Photo by Ahmad Mukhtar

The Port of Hamburg mainly competes with large ports such as Antwerp and Rotterdam. Accordingly, the downturn in cargoes to and from China and Russia hit container handling at Germany’s largest universal port especially hard, since a large part of the cargo from and to these countries was transshipped via Hamburg, i.e. transferred from large container ships to feeder ships and vice versa.

The Port of Hamburg’s geographical position as a universal port located on the river Elbe inside the city is considered both an advantage and a disadvantage.

“Unlike Rotterdam, we cannot grow, and the vessels have to come inside the city to deliver their cargo, but it does have its advantages: transportation from vessels via ships is cheaper than via trucks. Besides being expensive, the latter can cause traffic jams,” Wolfgang Schmidt explained.

He said that to maintain and increase the Port of Hamburg’s competitiveness, the government sees a need to develop its infrastructure, including adapting and expanding access and dispersal corridors for freight transport by rail, truck and inland-waterway crafts.

Container handling by trade area from January to June 2015

The Hamburg Port Authority (HAP) has already set itself the goal of developing the Port of Hamburg into a smartPORT in the next few years, which means that information exchange will become more intelligent. HAP expects this will lead to an increase in the port’s quality and efficiency as an important link in the supply chain, which could result in an increase in the port’s annual value creation as well. The Port of Hamburg currently generates added value of around 20 billion Euros throughout the Federal Republic of Germany.

14 Hours and Many Delays Later

Ana Tshhovrebova — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 08:50:16 +0000

On top of it all, I ended up waiting for my luggage for about an hour. Finally, in front of the Café Treff at Hamburg Airport, where I was told someone would be waiting for me holding an Interlink Academy Sign, seeing Tamara Nehls was the happiest moment of my long and complicated day.

Ana (center) and her fellow participants at the beginning of the program

She said I was the last person who had arrived and everybody was already at a welcome meeting, so we wouldn’t have time to go to the hotel but would have to rush straight to the meeting.
“Do you prefer to wait 10 minutes or should we run to catch the earlier train?” Tamara asked me. I immediately chose to run, and happily we made the train. After 30 minutes we entered the room where the welcome meeting was taking place. Here I first met the course instructors Werner Eggert and Joachim Vögele, as well as the other 13 participants from Eastern European countries eager to develop their digital journalism skills.
“There will be lot to learn”, Werner said to us and then, before starting course from the next morning we all went to have a delicious dinner at Italian restaurant. Don’t ask me why Italian and not German food because I don’t know, but the Italian food was great, especially after such a long and complicated journey.