#transit cargo

Businessmen and economists say the port - one of the biggest in the eastern Mediterranean and where over 40% of transshipments went to Syria and the Middle East region - has already lost revenues and business since the blast to other rival ports as shipping lines divert transit cargo. “The port turned out to be (Lebanon’s) weakness,” said Jawad Anani, a regional economic consultant and former Jordanian minister. “There was so much dependence on it, so when it was demolished it turned out to be their Achilles heel.”