Port of Beirut (PoB) continued to show a sustained activity, in the first half (H1) of 2015 as receipts grew 11.72% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 117.60M high in the last 5 years. This might be due to the longer storage periods by importers for inspection purposes, and the closure of the Nassib crossing between Syria and Jordan pushing up sea shipment for cargo.
Nevertheless, total container activity including transshipment (TEU+TS) remained in the red with an 8.52% y-o-y decline to 557,622 containers during H1 2015. In fact, Container activity excluding transshipment slipped by an annual 1.30% to 376,855 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) while TS plunged by a yearly 20.85% to 180,288 TEU, over the same period.
The total volume of merchandise (imported and exported) declined by 7.69% y-o-y to 3.92M tons. In addition, the number of vessels that docked at the Lebanon’s major port went down from 1,001 vessels by June 2014 to 852 vessels, by June 2015. In contrast, imported cars surged 10.81% y-o-y to reach 49,408 cars.
MSC and CMA CGM, the two major shipping/logistic firms operating in the port, witnessed yearly falls in transshipment activity of 21% and 26.75% to 96,950 TEU and 69,998 TEU, respectively.
PoB Revenues during H1 ($M)
Source: Port of Beirut