Upgrading Beirut Port

First phase of $128 million project to expand container terminal underway

The first step of the container terminal expansion at the Port of Beirut was completed on February 16.
The expansion project has been undertaken by Danish-Lebanese joint venture, Pihl-Hourie SAL. The cost of the project, which was launched in 2009, is estimated at $128 million.

The Port of Beirut has a total area of 1.2 million square meters, with four basins and 16 docks. The project involves expanding quay 16 by 500 meters to the east to reach the mouth of the Beirut River and creating a new 180,000 square meters stacking area for containers.

Total container activity at Beirut’s Port in 2011 was 1.03 million 20-foot equivalents (TEU), compared to around 949,000 TEU for 2010. The Port of Beirut made $158.84 million in revenue in 2011.

The port is operated and managed by the Port Authority of Beirut (GEPB). Container terminal operations are subcontracted to a private consortium called the Beirut Container Terminal Consortium (BCTC).

“Once the works on the first phase are completed in March 2013, the container terminal capacity will increase by 400,000 TEU allowing the terminal to process around 1.5 million TEUs per year,” according to Serge Jabour, Terminal Manager at BCTC.
The expansion plan also involves extending quay 16 from 600 to 1,100 meters. The draft along the expanded quay will be 17.5 meters.

The second phase of upgrading the port will see the container terminal capacity expand by another 600,000 TEU, thus allowing the terminal to process 2.1 million TEU per year.