Truckers Go on Open-Ended Strike over 4th Basin at Beirut Port

The truckers syndicate at Beirut Port on Monday closed indefinitely the entrance to the facility pending a solution by the government to the controversial project to fill the port’s fourth basin.

The state-run National News Agency reported that the protesters held an open-ended strike, pending the referral of the file to the cabinet for discussion.

NNA said the entry and exit of goods at Beirut Port came to a halt during the protest.

Naim Sawaya, the head of the truckers syndicate, told reporters that filling the fourth basin is “illegal.”

Nassif Saleh, a port agent, called for the formation of a fifth basin to create job opportunities, rather than leaving many workers jobless.

The filling of the fourth basin would end the role of Beirut Port and harms the economy, he told journalists.

The project will give more space to store containers. But there are fears that transforming the Port of Beirut into a transshipment hub would direct large vessels to the Port of Tripoli because the fourth basin will no longer be able to accept big cargo ships.

This will allegedly cause hundreds of Beirut Port employees, mostly truckers, to lose their jobs.

The cabinet was set to discuss the issue last week, but it was overshadowed by the clashes between the Jewish State and Hizbullah after the party attacked an Israeli military convoy in the occupied Shebaa Farms area.

The Maronite Patriarchate and Christian parties, mainly the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces, Marada and Kataeb, have backed the truckers.

G.K.

D.A.