French shipping firm with Lebanese roots boosts Beirut’s port activity

The rise of Beirut Port with strong growth of freight volumeand earnings since late 2004 is partly due to the Frenchshipping firm with Lebanese roots, CMA CGM. With claims tobe the world’s third-largest container shipping line sinceacquiring Delmas—another French shipping line with strongAfrican business—in 2006, CMA CGM has demonstrated a visionfor its Beirut location that includes on the one hand aproject to construct a new office building and on the otherhand involves the group’s reliance on Beirut as a port ofcall and transshipment hub. However, the company’s two recent activities—finalizing athree-year contract with the Beirut Port Authority at thestart of 2007 and laying the cornerstone for the newregional operations building with capacity for 400 employeesat the port’s free zone in April—are in no way interlaced,insists the general manager for CMA CGM (Compagnie Maritimed’Affrètement-Compagnie Générale Maritime) in Beirut,Georges Kurban who told Executive that it is “wrong” to askabout the two issues