By: OrePulse

Shipping and logistics group CMA CGM has begun a $100 million enlargement of the container terminal it runs at the Port of Beirut. Company and port leaders describe it as the biggest upgrade the site has seen since CMA CGM took over operations in 2022.

Ceremony Marks the Start

Work formally got underway on September 10 with a foundation-laying event at the port. Among those in attendance were Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, CMA CGM Chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saadé, and Port of Beirut Chairman and Director General Marwan Naffi. CMA CGM executive officer and CMA CGM Foundation president Tanya Saadé Zeenny and Public Works and Transport Minister Fayez Rasamny rounded out the group.

What's Being Built

Once complete, the terminal's total footprint will nearly double, growing from about 45 hectares to over 75 hectares. The centerpiece is a new berth called Quay 16 — stretching 1.1 kilometers with a depth exceeding 16.5 meters, built to handle bigger ships than the terminal can currently accommodate.

Cargo throughput is expected to climb substantially too: current annual capacity sits near 1.2 to 1.3 million TEU, and planners are targeting roughly 3 million TEU once the buildout finishes, with some accounts citing figures near 2.8 million TEU. Construction is slated to run 16 to 18 months and unfold in stages between now and 2028.

More Than Bricks and Concrete

Officials cast the funding as a broader vote of confidence, not just an infrastructure upgrade. Salam argued the effort would help cement Beirut's standing in eastern Mediterranean commerce and tie the port into a larger web of national infrastructure — airport, highways, rail, and border crossings. Rasamny noted that a company of CMA CGM's stature choosing to invest carries weight beyond the dollar figure itself, and pointed to separate government efforts underway to reconnect rail lines with Syria, revive stretches of the old Hejaz Railway, and secure a place for Lebanon in the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).

Naffi framed the project as the terminal's third and most ambitious growth phase, meant to reestablish Beirut as a go-to container gateway for the Levant and beyond.

How It Got Here

CMA CGM has run the Beirut terminal since 2022 through its subsidiary, CMA Terminals, under a 10-year concession from the Lebanese state. That earlier agreement carried a $33 million commitment covering equipment upgrades, a new maintenance building, and digital-systems work.

The current push comes as Lebanon continues rebuilding from the devastating port explosion of August 2020, which claimed more than 218 lives and left much of the capital in ruins. CMA CGM has consistently tied its work at the site to that broader recovery effort, while also positioning the investment as a way to solidify its standing among global terminal operators.