Traffic through Beirut Port rose by 25 per cent in August compared with the same month last year as the Syrian conflict drives more container ships through Lebanon.

A total of 69,099 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) were recorded at the port in August compared with 55,031 TEUs recorded in the same month last year.

Containership traffic has been consistently rising by a monthly average of 22 per cent since the beginning of this year. By the end of August, container volumes reached a total of 513,076 TEUs, which is just 20 per cent lower than the yearly volume of 634,969 TEUs recorded last year.

Port income is also rising, with the port earning close to $19m in August, which is almost an 18 per cent increase on income compared with August 2012. In the first eight months of the year, the port generated $145.7m in income, far higher than the $116.7m recorded for the same period last year.

The worsening Syrian conflict has resulted in many shipping lines steering clear of Syria’s ports, preferring to dock at Beirut.

More companies are choosing to ship goods by sea as the transportation of goods by land from Lebanon into other Arab countries or Turkey has also become increasingly risky, as most routes require the cargo to travel through Syria. This too is driving up business at the port.

To accommodate the growing traffic, an expansion of the existing container terminal is expected to be completed this year. In 2007, Germany’s Selhorn was appointed consultant to oversee the project. In 2009, a joint venture of Denmark’s Pihl and the local Hourie won the construction contract to expand the terminal’s capacity from 700,000 TEUs a year to 1.5 million TEUs.