New online payment system launched for port fees

BEIUT — Beirut Port Authority’s Management and Operations Committee (GEPB) has launched a new online payment system for settling port fees, introducing a digital interface developed by Lebanese provider NetCommerce, it announced Thursday.

The initiative is part of "the digitization and digital transformation policies it is adopting, aiming to ease procedures, accelerate processing of transactions, and enhance transparency."

The interface is accessible via the Beirut Port website, at the bottom of the home page, through a link redirecting to CAMA, the infrastructure’s Cargo Management System. The GEPB released a demonstration video for users, shared on social media.

However, the payment interface will not allow payment of customs duties, which have a different procedure and separate channels. Nevertheless, the news was well received by importers, "who had to pay these fees in cash," Maroun Chammas, president of the Association of Petroleum Importing Companies (APIC), told L’Orient-Le Jour.

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The GEPB concluded by saying it is "working on developing and expanding additional payment options. Other complementary methods will soon be introduced and announced progressively."

The Beirut Port has had a contract with NetCommerce since 2014, with a break in 2020 due to the devastating explosion in the port area on Aug. 4, 2020. Last December, NetCommerce announced that it had expanded its range of payment solutions to include Google Pay, the digital payment service developed by the American giant, already introduced in Lebanon a few months earlier by Areeba, Bank Audi, BLOM Bank, and the Banque libano-française (BLF).

With revenues up 120%

The Port of Beirut is the country’s largest, with 6.45 million tons of freight recorded in 2025 (+19%), compared to 2.35 million for Tripoli (+21%), according to the most recent data published in April. The two facilities are the only ones equipped with container terminals, managed by French giant CMA CGM.

During a meeting Thursday in Baabda with President Joseph Aoun, Port of Beirut director Marwan al-Nafi outlined a series of measures to improve the port’s operations, capacity, and revenue generation.

He also reviewed steps taken to keep the port functioning during the war that began on March 2 between Israel and Hezbollah, currently under a 10-day cease-fire that Lebanon hopes to extend, as well as measures to strengthen infrastructure security.

Nafi said the port managed to increase the share of its revenues transferred to the public treasury by 120% in the first quarter, despite the ongoing crisis.