BEIRUT: Port of Beirut has performed much better than other economic sectors in the country as activity and transshipment reached all time high this year, the head of the port said Monday.

“It has been a very good year for the port’s operations. Hopefully, we will pass the 1 million container mark by the end of the year,” Hassan Kraytem, head of the Beirut Port Authority, told The Daily Star.

This upbeat assessment was also echoed by Elie Zakhour head of the Beirut International Chamber of Navigation, an official representative of 45 shipping agencies operating at the port.

“The port has already handled 945,000 containers, not to mention the 70,000 to 80,000 containers which are expected to be handled in December. We will easily pass the 1 million [containers] mark. This would put the Beirut Port along with the world’s biggest 100 international ports,” Zakhour told the paper.

Zakhour expressed high optimism about the growth prospects in the port’s operations saying that its business is being propelled by massive growth in transshipment that exceeded 27 percent in the first 10 months of 2011 alone, contributing some 405,000 containers.

Kraytem believes that the mounting prospects of the transshipment business were a result of a number of shipping companies moving their operations to Beirut, where operations have become safer and more profitable compared to other countries in a region wracked by political unrest.

Additionally, the port is offering a high-quality service to companies that are attracted by the port’s added value to their business and the lowered costs incurred on their businesses, both Zakhour and Kraytem confirmed.

The container pier number 16 with its 15.5-meter depth and 600-meter length has also contributed in strengthening the port’s position as a Mediterranean transshipment hub, said Zakhour.

The expansion works, which Zakhour said is vital for boosting the port’s growth, is expected to upgrade the container quay to a depth of 16.5 meters to handle 1,500,000 containers.

Asked about the destination countries for transshipment through the port, Zakhour said Syria, Cyprus, Turkey and countries across the Mediterranean were being served by the facility.

The turmoil in neighboring Syria would not negatively affect the port, he added, but in fact may well contribute to increasing its activities.

“The Syrian market does not show signs of a slowing demand but in fact quite the opposite. We see an increase in Syrian demand on goods transshipped through the port,” he said.

But Zakhour feared the port was reaching its full capacity, adding that the expansion plans concluding in 2013 should not be delayed if not possibly completed ahead of schedule.

Overcrowding had caused ships to wait as long as three days to process shipments at the seaport, a statement reported by the National News Agency said earlier Monday.

“There is barely any space available at the port, which already sees high volume of ships during the import hungry holiday season,” Zakhour said.

Kraytem said the upgrade would also directly contribute significantly to eliminating delays and pressure on staff and equipment caused by the increasing activity.

According to November figures ferried goods increased by 4 percent last October to around 600,000 tons with the total number of containers growing by 17 percent to 91,184 compared to last year.

The number of containers intended for local markets also rose by 8 percent, reaching 24,080. Meanwhile, transshipment saw a large 46 percent increase with the number of containers rising to 41,996, compared to October last year.

In the early 1990s, a phase of development and reconstruction took place at the Port of Beirut.

According to the Beirut Port Authority’s website, the port’s infrastructures includes four docks, two quays and new container terminal with 700,000 TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) of yearly capacity.

The container terminal became operational in February 2005. It is equipped with five ship-to-shore gantry cranes with an outreach of 60 meters.