Traffic improves
at Tripoli Port

Exports surge 136 percent this year

The activity of Port of Tripoli (PoT) improved last year compared to the year before.

Total goods reached 1.8 million tons. Exports jumped 136 percent to 439,000 tons. “We have started to export to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq through Turkey, which helped spike exports,” said Ahmad Tamer, PoT Director General.

Despite this significant climb, total revenues only rose by 25 percent to $14 million. Tamer said: “This is because the port mostly handles general cargo, which has a much lower value than containers.” The value of exporting containers represents 54 percent of the total value of traffic in general. “We expect next year to have better results because we will start operating our new container terminal,” he said.

Imports also grew to 1.4 million tons, up by 25 percent.

The number of vessels reached 864, growing by 50 percent. Unlike Port of Beirut (PoB), the number of vessels is going up, not down. “General cargo is usually shipped in smallvessels,” he said.

PoT’s general cargo and bulk quay has the same depth as that of PoB, 15.2 meters. “This allows us to handle the same type of cargo that enters the Beirut Port,” he said.

The new container terminal has a larger depth of 15.5 meters compared to 11 meters at the PoB.

“We were contacted a few days ago by the Council for Development and Reconstruction, asking us about studies for a further extension under the request of Prime Minister Tamam Salam when he was participating in the Syria donor conference in London,” he said. If the funding is allocated, the container terminal would be extended from the current 200,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) to 800,000 TEUs.