Cargo from Egypt that CMA transshipped through Latakia a couple of years ago is now being redirected through Beirut.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Lebanon/2013/Mar-11/209561-syrian-conflict-turns-lebanon-into-transshipment-hub.ashx#ixzz2NG1RKWuC
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

Story Summary

Before the conflict in Syria erupted in 2011, potatoes exported from the Bekaa Valley would travel by truck to Latakia’s port, where they would be loaded onto a container vessel and shipped by sea to different markets in the Middle East.

The Port of Beirut received a total of 1,041,000 TEUs of freight in 2012 – 45 percent of which was transshipment cargo destined for different countries – compared to 1,031,000 TEUs in 2011, according to Elie Zakhour, head of the Beirut International Chamber of Navigation, an organization which represents 45 shipping agencies at the port.

Though the company still has an office in Latakia with a staff of 100 people and 550 employees at the port, transshipping from Beirut to Latakia has become increasingly problematic, Gerdy said, and CMA is increasingly discharging vessels in Beirut and shipping freight overland to Syria.

Exports to Syria rose a whopping 37 percent last year, after declining 3 percent in 2011 .

Last month 83,295 TEUs of cargo, valued at $58 million, were exported from Lebanon to Syria.

Gezairi’s imports to Syria have dropped 60 percent, but exports have only dipped by 5 percent.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Lebanon/2013/Mar-11/209561-syrian-conflict-turns-lebanon-into-transshipment-hub.ashx#ixzz2NG0hiwhD
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)