The giant cranes of the port of Beirut. (Credit: Philippe Hage Boutros/OLJ)
BEIRUT — Two offers for the Beirut port container terminal operator tender will be studied by the Temporary Committee for Management and Investment of the Port of Beirut (GEBP), according to sources close to the tendering process.
Here’s what we know:
• The competing offers were placed by the French container transportation and shipping company CMA CGM, owned by the Saade family; and the Emirati port operator Gulftainer, a subsidiary of which has operated the Tripoli port container terminal for several years. Sources close to the tendering process said that a joint venture between Spanish logistics and transport company Alonso and the Lebanese Gharib Shipping and Transport Agency had expressed interest but ultimately did not make an offer.
• The sources said that the Public Works Ministry and the GEPB would begin a technical review of the offers and, if the projects’ technical constraints are met, would negotiate with CMA CGM and Gulftainer to retain the most lucrative of the two offers. The company that is awarded the contract will operate the container terminal for 10 years.
• The current container terminal operator, the Beirut Container Terminal Consortium, a collaboration between Portia Ports Limited, International Port Management Beirut SAL and Logistics and Port Management Americas, has held the position since 2005. After BCTC’s contract expired in 2019, a three month extension was agreed upon, after which the consortium retained its role.
• The tendering process for awarding the terminal operator contract, while drawing attention from international shipping giants, has been the source of controversy. While the call for tenders has been in the pipeline since 2020, the deadline was finally fixed on Jan. 31, 2022. The Beirut port’s revenues, based on figures from last October, also showed a 44.5 percent decline from the previous year.