Cooking up a storm in Lebanon
Some interesting plans are brewing in Beirut. Informedsources indicate that the Beirut port managementis planning a port extension which will incorporate a new container terminalfacility developed specifically for use by CMA CGM and the MediterraneanShipping Company, a dedicated facility.
There has known to be some concern in the port authority that if it invests heavily in new common user container terminal infrastructure to accommodate major new transhipment volumes then this could prove very costly should the lines concerned – i.e. CMA and CGM and MSC – decide to take that business elsewhere. This new plan, therefore, the creation of a dedicated self operated facility, appears to be a way of anchoring the two lines in Beirut and at the same time freeing off capacity in the common user container terminal which has experienced an explosion in container traffic since both CMA CGM and MSC arrived.
Container traffic in Beirut rose by a phenomenal 59% in 2007 compared with 2006 to an all time high of 948,000 teu. As might be expected, a rise in container transhipment traffic was a major factor here, with both CMA and CGM using Beirut as a deep-sea hub, but interestingly there was also a significant rise in gateway cargo with at least part of this transiting to Syria.
The port of Lattakia in Syria, currently slated for privatisation but not so far equipped with purpose-built quayside container handling power, has recently been suffering from significant congestion and consequently Beirut offers an alternative gateway. So too does Tartous now a highly efficient gateway port with international container terminal operator ICTSI in residence there.
Interestingly, CMA CGM’s name is known to be one of those in the frame as a bidder to win the container terminal operating concession for Lattakia. It seems the line is intent on not just becoming a well-known force in liner operations in the region but also one that can exert influence at a regional level in container handling, a scenario that a number of its competitors might find understandably disturbing.