Beirut Port revenues up

Container activity at all-time high

The Port of Beirut recorded total revenues of around $106 million in the first half of the year, up by 24 percent compared to the same period last year. The growth is mainly attributed to the security crisis in Syria which paralyzed the neighboring country’s ports. The port has also become the only way to ship several local products that used to be exported by land route via Syria.

Container activity increased by around eight percent from 515,000 twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) to 588,818 TEUs. “Containers reached a record high in the month of June with 104,289 TEUs,” said Elie Zakhour, President of the International Chamber of Navigation.

At end-June, the number of ships docking at the port grew by five percent to 1,058. The size of processed merchandise reached 4.1 million tons, up by 17 percent compared to last year.

Zakhour said the growing activity at the Port of Beirut could become a sustainable trend: “Although all local economic sectors are witnessing a slowdown, activity at the port will continue to grow in the future even after the crisis in Syria is resolved because the authorities there will need time to rebuild the necessary infrastructure.”