Port of Beirut (News & Photos)

[AmeriLEB]

Container shipping up at Port of Beirut
June 08, 2012 01:44 AM
The Daily Star

BEIRUT: The total container activity at the Port of Beirut rose by 3.38 percent up to May 2012 to 426,950 20-foot equivalent (TEU).

Transshipment activity edged 0.81 percent up to 177,314 TEU, while container activity (excluding transshipment) climbed by 5.29 percent year-over-year (for the first five months) to 249,636 TEU.

The number of imported cars jumped by 18.69 percent to 32,097 units from 27,043 units in 2011. Merchandise activity through the Port of Beirut increased up to May 2012 as imported and exported merchandises advanced by 8.37 percent to 2.85M tons.

The number of docked vessels dropped 8.31 percent year-over-year from 903 to 828 vessels. The port generated $53.65M in revenues up to April, up 7.23 percent.

Read more: http://dailystar.com.lb/Business/Leb...#ixzz1xFnRp2Zm
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

[Rabih]

Lebanon: Beirut Port on Modernization Track



On May 24, Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (ZPMC) won the bid for the purchase contract from the Beirut Port Authority, Lebanon, involving 4 shore bridges and 12 tire cranes.

Since providing port equipment for the terminal in 2003, ZPMC has delivered 11 shore bridges and 36 tire cranes.

As part of its recent plan of adding new berths to the terminal, the customer awarded the port equipment order to ZPMC again, fully showing its trust in ZPMC’s port equipment.

This batch of equipment is scheduled to be delivered in 2014.

http://www.dredgingtoday.com/2012/06...ization-track/

[Rabih]

cruise ship

[AmeriLEB]

Originally Posted by Rabih

cruise ship

New cruise ship aims to hike tourism
June 15, 2012 01:42 AM
The Daily Star

BEIRUT: A new 700-passenger cruise ship will enter service early next month, Abou Merhi Lines announced Thursday during a meeting with Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud.

In a statement after the meeting, Abboud said marine tourism should play a bigger role in attracting visitors to Lebanon. He said the cruise ship would encourage additional operators to run trips to Beirut Port.

Merhi Abou Merhi, CEO of the cruise operator, said the cruise ship would operate on a line covering Limassol, Rhodes, Mykonos, Bodrum and Marmaris. Abou Merhi said the line would boost Lebanon’s position both as a destination and base of tourism in the Mediterranean region.

Meanwhile in a separate meeting, Abboud said the number of tourists entering Lebanon in the first five months did not decline significantly from 2011 levels. “We have only witnessed a very minor decline,” he said.

Abboud said tourists from four Gulf Cooperation Countries, which issued warnings to their citizens against visiting Lebanon last month, represent less than 10 percent of the total number of visitors.

“But these tourists have high spending capacity and are the main shoppers in Lebanon,” he added. Abboud said he would be discussing lifting the travel warnings during a visit to the UAE Monday.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on June 15, 2012, on page 5.

Read more: http://dailystar.com.lb/Business/Leb...#ixzz1xoN9ZMRJ
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

[AmeriLEB]

Hope there was a date error in the article a couple posts up. Hope the equipment is 2013 not 14

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.
Reported by Hanadi Chami

[AmeriLEB]

Beirut Port’s revenues rise by 8.8 percent in 2012
December 18, 2012 01:13 AM
The Daily Star
A+ A-

BEIRUT: Port of Beirut revenues increased 8.8 percent to reach $158.5 million in the first 11 months of 2012 from $145.7 million recorded a year earlier.

Goods handled by the port both by weight and number of containers, increased 8 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

[AmeriLEB]

Beirut port expansion ongoing as Syria conflict redirects trade
January 12, 2013 12:45 AM
By Mohamad El Amin
The Daily Star

BEIRUT: For the second year in a row, the Port of Beirut is witnessing a phase of rapid growth and expansion in spite of economic slowdown, said experts and officials Friday.

As a new container terminal and quay approached completion, a new expansion is being planned, Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi said.

“During the upcoming few months, expansion works of quay number 16, which is 500 meters long, and a new container terminal, will be completed,” said Aridi during a tour of the port.

“The functioning container terminal had been designed for 400,000 to 450,000 containers, but it has managed, thanks to good management, to deal with an excess of 1 million containers a year,” added Aridi.

Elie Zakhour, head of the Beirut International Chamber of Navigation, an official representative of 45 shipping agencies operating at the port, told The Daily Star that activity at the port has increased to unprecedented levels.

“For two consecutive years the port broke records achieving more than 1 million containers,” Zakhour said.

He added the expansion works and new port equipment would become operational by June 2013, relieving the port of its major problems relating to traffic and piling of containers.

It will allow new international cargo companies to move transshipment operations to Beirut, he said.

Port revenues increased 8.8 percent to reach $158.5 million in the first 11 months of 2012 up from $145.7 million a year earlier. Weight of shipments grew by a similar figure.

Demand for goods by Syrian and Lebanese traders is the chief reason behind the boom, Zakhour said, while the conflict raging across Syria makes imports through its ports impractical.

Exporters have also shifted from land routes to the sea, he added, leading port exports to increase 27 percent year-on-year in 2012.

During Aridi’s visit to the port, it was announced that handling fees at the container terminal would increase by 12 percent, following a deal between the Transportation Ministry and the Association of Shipping Agents.

Zakhour said the new fees are seen as positive by port stakeholders given they will allow Beirut Container Terminal Consortium, a private company contracted by the port authority, to manage the container terminal better and improve facilities.

He said the port authority also decided to standardize fees for cargo ships, in order to facilitate Customs collection and reduce delays.

The fees schemes have now been reduced to a handful of criteria relating to the type and weight of cargo, instead of the complex formula used before.

Fees for ships carrying raw materials have been reduced, while those carrying luxury items – including alcohol and tobacco – were increased, Zakhour explained.

[AmeriLEB]

Wonder why the discrepancy. Above article says 4 shore bridges and 12 tire cranes.

Beirut Port’s quay expanded
Container handling equipment to be installed

The first phase of a project to expand the Port of Beirut’s container terminal has been finalized.

The Port has four basins and 16 docks. The expansion involved extending dock number 16. Infrastructure works have been completed and the expanded quay will be ready to operate by September, once container handling equipment is installed.

Two giant cranes and four medium-sized cranes for lifting containers will be added to the terminal. The equipment will be imported from China and delivered starting end-May. Installation will require two months.

Phase one of the terminal expansion will increase its capacity by 400,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent), allowing the processing of 1.5 million TEUs per year.

The total volume of goods imported and exported at the Port of Beirut in 2012 reached 7.2 million tons, up by eight percent year-on-year. The Port’s income totaled $175 million, marking a ten percent yearly increase.

Upon completion of the second and final phase of the Port’s expansion, the container terminal will be able to process up to 2.1 million TEUs per year.

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

[AmeriLEB]

Quay 16 extension in February 2013