Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said they viewed the redevelopment of Beirut Port together with the rebuilding of the state. Salam said the port needed to regain its role as an advanced logistics hub in the eastern Mediterranean.
Salam made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the Beirut Port container terminal expansion project. The project aims to increase the port’s capacity, accelerate container handling and reduce ships’ waiting times.
The port’s importance for trade and the region
Prime Minister Salam said Beirut Port was not merely a facility consisting of berths, warehouses and cranes. He described it as one of the fundamental elements of the city’s history and identity, as well as its economic, social and cultural structure.
Salam said the port had previously made Beirut an important stop in trade between Europe and the Arab hinterland. He noted that the facility served as a gateway to Damascus, the Levant and Iraq.
Salam said the expanded container terminal would increase the port’s ability to attract shipping and transit trade routes, raising its service efficiency and competitiveness. He said their goal was to turn Beirut Port once again into an active hub for transit transport and re-export activities.
Security and public oversight in port operations
Salam stressed that security, safety, storage and monitoring rules should be enforced according to strict standards at the port. He said they wanted the port to operate safely under the supervision of the relevant state institutions.
The prime minister said public services could not succeed as long as uncertainty over management, exceptions in implementation and interference in operations continued. He said they did not view the port’s development separately from the state’s rebuilding project.
Justice and accountability after the explosion
Salam said the explosion at Beirut Port on August 4, 2020, had not been limited to one part of the port but had affected the entire city. He said people had been killed and injured, homes and institutions had been destroyed, and Lebanese people’s sense of security had been shaken.
The prime minister said the expansion work at the container terminal could not be separated from ensuring justice, nor could the modernization of the facilities be separated from accountability. Salam described preserving the memory of those who died in the explosion as a national and moral trust, and said tragedies caused by negligence, disorder and irresponsibility must not happen again.
More than 235 people were killed and over 7,000 were injured in the August 4, 2020, explosion, which caused widespread destruction in Beirut. Lebanese authorities had attributed the blast to a fire of undetermined cause that began while a large quantity of ammonium nitrate at the port was being stored without the necessary precautions.
