Port of Beirut's terminal expansion due in mid-2013

Shipping firms called to increase their operations

The expansion of the container terminal at the Port of Beirut will be completed in June 2013. The Lebanese Shipping Agents Syndicate called on all shipping agencies operating at the Port of Beirut to increase their workflow in line with the port’s enhanced capacity.

“Once works on the first phase are complete, the terminal's capacity will rise by 400,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent), allowing the processing of 1.5 million TEUs per year,” said Serge Jabour, terminal manager at Beirut Container Terminal Consortium (BCTC). BCTC is a consortium of private companies mandated by the government to manage the container terminal.

Upon completion of the project’s second and final phase, the container terminal at Port of Beirut will be able to process up to 2.1 million TEU per year. Total container activity at the port amounted to 1 million TEU in 2011.

The Port of Beirut has four basins and 16 docks. The expansion plan involves extending dock number 16 to the mouth of the Beirut River to the east. It will also establish a new area of 180,000 square meters for stacking containers.

The expansion project was launched in 2009. It is undertaken by Pihl-Hourie, a Danish-Lebanese joint venture. The project’s cost is estimated at $130 million.