BEIRUT: The International Chamber of Navigation of Beirut said recently issued port figures suggested an improvement in overall performance.

A statement, issued by the chamber Wednesday, said the port’s October figures reflected the economy’s ability “to adapt to local and regional instabilities.”

The statement noted that shipped goods rose 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 containers. While transshipment saw a very large 46 percent increase with the number of containers rising to 41,996, also compared to October last year.

The number of cars shipped, however, fell by 44 percent to just 4,608 cars.

Head of the chamber, Elie Zakhour, expected the port’s business to stay steady ahead of the holiday season, when the country more than doubles its imports. Zakhour expected that by the end of 2011, Beirut port will enter the list of the top 100 international ports.