Holy waters

The Beirut Port is thriving, the Port Authority’s director Hassan Kraytem, tells Executive from his panoramic office overlooking the shipyard. Its success — the port transferred nearly $55 million of its profits to the treasury in 2014 according to data from the Finance Ministry — is largely due to its growth into a transshipment hub and an increase in container traffic. But a plan to expand the port to increase this capacity has resulted in labor strikes and political controversy. Whereas today the fourth basin can only handle ships carrying general cargo — commodities such as grain and flour, cars and other goods that are not easily containerized — the plan is to fill the basin and create a multipurpose terminal to handle both general cargo and containers. Filling the port’s fourth basin is the point of contention. Truck drivers shuttling goods from the port to destinations in Lebanon and