The latest statistics on activity at the Port of Beirut show an annual slump of 4.63% in the revenues of the Port of Beirut (PoB) to $7.66M by May 2021, compared to last year’s $8.03M. It is interesting to note that on the first of September, the Middle East region will witness a revolution in port activity due to the opening of the new Haifa port. The opening of the Gulf port will surely have dramatic impact on the port of Beirut activity as it is the newest port in the world with the latest in port technology, especially as no action what so ever has been done on rebuilding the port of Beirut.
In details, total container activity including transshipment (TEU+TS) fell by a yearly 5.32% to stand at 58,832 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), with Transshipment activity (TS) alone declining by 21.77% year-on-year (YOY) to 15,603 TEU by May 2021. In its turn, container activity (TEU) increased by 2.46% YOY to 43,229 TEU over the same period.
Accordingly, the transshipment volume of CMA CGM, one of the two major shipping lines operating at the Port of Beirut, added 3.14% YOY to 11,984 TEU by May 2021. Contrarily, the transshipment activity of MSC decreased by 38.04% YOY to 1,093 TEU by May 2021. In addition, the local volume of CMA CGM jumped by 68.59% to reach 14,499 TEU, while the local volume of MSC retreated by 6.84% to stand at 8,428 TEU for the month of May 2021.
Port of Beirut Revenues by May (in USD)
Source: PoB, BLOMINVEST