Less than a month has passed since the massive explosion that rocked Beirut and decimated its port. Despite the initial estimations pointing to several months’ time before the port is brought back to full operational capacity, it is finally there now.
While there is more work to be done to undo the damage inflicted on the vital port by the massive blast, shipping and discharging operations have returned to their normal efficiency levels, announced Beirut Port Director-General Bassem Al-Qaissi.
“Operations are running normally, and include all scopes, different containers and goods,” Al-Qaissi said following a meeting attended by representatives of the French Army, present at the Port of Beirut.
The recent recovery efforts at the Port, aided by the French Army, have been focused mainly on removing the rubble on its ground.
“We have summoned the owners of sunken ships and insurance companies within a maximum period of 24 hours so that we can withdraw all the rubble at the required speed,” the newly-appointed director-general explained.
Notably, on Thursday, Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne visited Beirut Port, inspected the damage, and checked on the ongoing relief efforts.
Full operational capacity was restored at Beirut Port 23 days after the August 4th explosion. Two weeks ago, Bassem Al-Qaissi revealed that the capacity at that time was 75% and improving at a promising rate.
It’s worth noting that according to a recent investigative report, no more than 1,000 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in Beirut on August 4th.
The same report detailed the ownership of the ship that carried the dangerous material to Lebanon and indicated that the highly-explosive stockpile that was unsafely stored at the port had never been officially seized by the Lebanese authorities.
