The Port of Beirut (PoB) continues to thrive, be it in terms of revenues or handled containers, especially since it became an alternative hub for transporting goods into war-torn Syria.
PoB’s revenues amounted to $164.64 million up to September, a 28% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase accredited to hefty container activity.
The latter (including transshipment) rose by 7% y-o-y to 851,542 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit) by September. However, this is due to the substantial flow of containers, which rose by
20.84% to 576,731 TEU as transshipment fell by 13.73% year-onyear to 274,811 TEU.
Activity of the two main shipping companies at the port maintained the same trend with MSC slightly upping its transshipment volume by 5.79% y-o-y to 163,999 TEU and CMA CGM reducing it considerably by 28.75% y-o-y to 95,514 TEU.
Congestion at the port led the two lines to diminish their transshipment volumes, all while respecting the minimum levels agreed upon in their contract with the PoB.
Imported and Exported merchandise crossing through the port maintains its steady upward trend, growing by 15.70% to 6,178.4 thousand tons up to September.
Meanwhile, the number of vessels docking at the port registered a marginal uptick of 0.19% to 1,589 units by September.
Looking ahead, the port’s activity will grow further thanks to the $220M (of which $60M for new handling equipment) expansion project. The first phase was finalized on October 22nd. The investment, financed solely via the port’s revenues, amplified container capacity to 1.5 Million TEUs/year compared to a previous capacity of 1.1 Million TEUs. Once fully completed, the port’s enlargement will allow the container terminal to intake 2.1 Million TEUs/year, without the hurdles of congestion and delays.
The Lebanon Brief – BLOM Bank
28 October
