The Port of Beirut is the biggest city and capital of Lebanon. Lying on a peninsula at the foot of the Lebanon Mountains in the center of the Mediterranean coastline, it is the country’s most important seaport.
Port History
Archeological excavations in downtown Beirut have uncovered layers of artifacts from ancient Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Arab, and Ottoman cultures. First mentioned in Egyptian writings dating to the 15th Century BC, the Port of Beirut has been inhabited since that time. In 1994, a dig proved that one of the city’s modern streets still follows an ancient Greek and Roman road.
“Beirut” comes from the Canaanite Be’erot, describing the underground water table still in use. The Port of Beirut was given the status of Roman colony in 14 BC, and it had fashionable suburbs during Roman times. The Roman city was destroyed by earthquakes and a devastating tidal wave in 551, and it remained in ruins until conquered by Muslims in 635 AD.
Muslims reconstructed the city into a walled garrison with an insignificant role until the 10th Century. The Port of Beirut was taken by the Crusaders in 1110 and made a fief of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. Under that rule, the Port of Beirut enjoyed thriving trade with Italian cities. The Mamluks ended the Crusaders’ rule in 1291, when the Port of Beirut was Syria’s chief port for Venitian spice merchants.
Passing to Ottoman rule in 1516, the Port of Beirut’s commercial importance declined. But by the 17th Century, it became an important exporter of Lebanese silk to Europe. Though technically under the rule of the Ottomans, the Port of Beirut fell to Ma’n and Shihab emirs for decades during the 18th Century. The city suffered greatly during the Russo-Turkish War and declined to the status of a village of 6000 souls.
Modern Beirut was born with Europe’s Industrial Revolution. Conquest of the area by Egypt brought a new era of commercial growth. By the middle 19th Century, population had grown to 15 thousand and military conflicts brought refugees from the mountains.
In 1888, the Port of Beirut became the capital of a new province that included coastal Syria and Palestine and, by 1900, it had a population of 120 thousand. Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries were active in the Port of Beirut. In 1866, what later became the American University of Beirut was established. The missionaries brought printing presses that stimulated the publishing industry. By 1900, the Port of Beirut was the center for Arabic journalism, and when intellectuals pushed for a revival of Arabic culture, Beirut became the first voice for modern Arab nationalism.
Occupied by the Allies after World War I, the city was made capital of the State of Greater Lebanon and the later Lebanese Republic (1926). Resenting Christian-dominated Lebanon, Beirut Muslims loyalty to Pan-Arabism led to conflict between the two religious groups. Added to social tensions due to rapid growth was the flood of Palestinian refugees after 1948. Open fighting broke out first in 1958 and again, more violently, between 1975 and 1990. During the latter violence, the Port of Beirut was divided, and its long-standing foreign community largely fled the city. Lebanon has been rebuilding the city since 1990. Despite regional strife, by 2006, it was regaining its reputation as a popular Middle East tourist, intellectual, and cultural center.
While the Port of Beirut has long functioned as a center for trade and naval activity, the current port was founded at the end of the 19th Century. In 1887, the Ottomans gave the concession to an Ottoman company that fortified their property. In 1925, control of the port passed to France. In 1960, a Lebanese company won the concession. The private operations ended in 1990 when Lebanon gave control to a temporary committee to manage the Port of Beirut.
Port Commerce
Development and reconstruction efforts began in the early 1990s when the Port of Beirut was expanded, and a new container terminal was constructed. Operational in 2005, the container terminal can handle 700 thousand TEUs of containerized cargo a year. Today, the Port of Beirut covers 120 hectares, including the 100-hectare water basin. Quays are over 5 kilometers long: 1.6 kilometers dedicated to general cargo, 1.3 kilometers for container operations, 600 meters for a new container quay, and 220 meters for bulk cargo.
In 2007, over 2100 vessels called at the Port of Beirut. Cargo passing through the port included over 198 thousand TEUs of containerized cargo and more than 47 thousand automobiles. The port’s Free Zone contains a duty-free market zone of over one hectare, industrial buildings of over 3.2 hectares including 52 warehouses of about 200 square meters per warehouse, an exhibition area for Lebanese products of about 1.1 hectares.
The Port of Beirut’s general cargo area offers over 7.7 hectares of warehouse space including four warehouses for general cargo, three warehouse for groupage operations, three warehouses for cars, one warehouse for hazardous cargo, and one open warehouse for cars and heavy-load engines. Further, the general cargo area boasts a silo with capacity for storing over 120 thousand tons.
Cruising and Travel
The Port of Beirut is Lebanon’s biggest city, and it is the only real cosmopolitan city in the country. Since Lebanese independence, the City of Beirut has been the country’s financial and commercial hub. Most residents speak English and French in addition to the native Arabic. Long called the “Paris of the Middle East,” Beirut boasts an energetic café culture and much European architecture. Every district within the city offers places tourists will want to visit.
Downtown holds ancient historic sites over 6000 years old. Among the most popular landmarks are: Pigeon Rocks (Rawcheh District), a huge natural arch rising from the Mediterranean with roadside cafes where visitors can enjoy breathtaking sunsets; Solidere Clock Tower (downtown) built by the French in the early 1900s; and Martyr’s Statue (downtown). Visitors to the Port of Beirut will find almost unlimited opportunities.
Arabian thoroughbreds race every Sunday at the Hippodrome Du Parc De Beyrouth (Beiurut Hippodrome) where foreigners can enter free. Several luxury spas dot the coastline. Golfers enjoy the 18-hole Golf Club of Lebanon, and visitors can ride the helium-filled Beirut Balloon to get magnificent views of the city from 300 meters. Scuba divers enjoy 36 shipwrecks, underwater canyons and caves, and ray and shark habitats during 300 sunny days every year. Divers will also find submerged ancient historic ruins from Phoenicia and Rome.
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