Three months after the Port of Beirut massive explosion, Beirut is still suffering from the lack of sufficient governmental organizations and logistical assistance. According to UNHCR’s Cash for Shelter programme, which is set to target 11,500 households whose homes have suffered lightly or moderately, it was able to reach 1,853 households representing almost 6,300 individuals and distribute a one-time cash grant as of 6 November.
To date, many reports show significant shortfall in funding for the reconstruction of Beirut Port and its damaged surrounding, highlighting the fact that the future of the sector depends on the action plans and policies of the new government in the upcoming weeks.
In details, the latest statistics on activity at the Port of Beirut show an annual slump of 45.94% in the revenues of the Port of Beirut (PoB) to $99.77M by November 2020. We also note that revenues declined due to the drastic fall in trade activity, for instance imports fell by 48.52% year-on-year (YOY) to $7.88B by September 2020, as per the latest data.
Total container activity including transshipment (TEU+TS) fell by a yearly 38.98% to stand at 706,070 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), with Container activity (TEU) alone significantly declining by 40.35% year-on-year (YOY) to 415,214 TEU by November 2020. In its turn, Transshipment activity (TS) slipped by 36.92% YOY to 290,856 TEU over the same period. Moreover, the total volume of imported and exported merchandise fell by an annual 33.72% to 4,098.6 tons.
Accordingly, the transshipment volume of CMA CGM, one of the two major shipping lines operating at the Port of Beirut, fell by 19.72% YOY to 132,697 TEU. Similarly, the transshipment activity of MSC decreased by 59.32% YOY to 88,395 TEU by November 2020. In addition, the local volume of CMA CGM and MSC also fell by 15.02% and 57.2% to 103,304 and 91,547 TEU, respectively, by November 2020.
Port of Beirut Revenues and (TEU+TS) activity by November
