Port of Latakia
The Port of Latakia (Arabic: ميناء اللاذقية) is a seaport, located on the mediterranean sea in the city of Latakia. Established on the 12th of February, 1950,[2] it has since served as Syria's main seaport.
| Port of Latakia ميناء اللاذقية | |
|---|---|
 Port of Latakia | |
| Location | |
| Country | Syria |
| Location | Latakia Latakia Governorate |
| Coordinates | 35°30′48″N 35°46′14″E |
| UN/LOCODE | SYLTK[1] |
| Details | |
| Opened | Ancient harbor: 2000 BC Modern harbor: 1950 |
| Operated by | Public Company of the Port of Latakia |
| Owned by | State-owned |
| Type of harbor | Natural |
| Size of harbor | 135 hectares (0.52 sq mi) |
| Land area | 15 hectares (0.058 sq mi) |
| Size | 150 hectares (0.58 sq mi) |
| Wharfs | 32 |
| General Manager | Suleiman Asaad Baloush |
| Cranes | 18 |
| Channel depth | 14.5 metres (48 ft) |
| Warehouse space | 62.8 hectares (0.242 sq mi) |
| Statistics | |
| Vessel arrivals | 1805 |
| Annual cargo tonnage | 8,093,000 |
| Website http://www.lattakiaport.gov.sy/ | |
Its imported cargo include clothing, construction materials, vehicles, furniture, minerals, tobacco, cotton, and food supplies such as lintels, onions, wheat, barley, dates, grains and figs, and in 2008, the port handled about 8 million tons of cargo.
The port is also a link in six organized cruises between Alexandria, İzmir and Beirut. In addition, there are irregular ferry services to Cyprus. In 2005, approximately 27,939 passengers used the port.[3]
History
The port of Latakia is connected to the history of settlement in this region.[4] Since the early Roman Empire, a port is operated at this landmarke. In 1945 Syria became independent and the port of Latakia was at these times the only seaport in the country. The export of cotton was handeld by these port.[5] In 1971, 1.6 million tons of cargo were loaded in the port, after the expansion in 1981, it was over twice as much: 3.6 million tons.
Today, petroleum products such as bitumen and asphalt are exported via the port, as well as grain, cotton, vegetable oil and tobacco ("Latakia tobacco").
The embargo on Syria in response to Assad's conduct in the Syrian civil war has also affected the transshipment in the port of Latakia since 2011. Since 2019, Iran leases parts of the port of Latakia for civilian and military use. This was followed closely by Russia, which operates in nearby Tartus its only naval base in the Mediterranean. Observers see in the treaty with Iran, the attempt of an economically partially isolated country, to gain access to the Mediterranean.[6]
General statistics
| Year | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imports * | 3.644 | 3.871 | 5.083 | 6.239 | 6.931 | 6.349 | 6.800 |
| Exports * | 0.905 | 0.996 | 1.019 | 1.083 | 1.162 | 1.471 | 1.262 |
- * figures in millions of tonnes
References
- "UNLOCODE (SY) - SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC". service.unece.org. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- حول مرفأ اللاذقية
- Transport, Latakia-city.gov.sy, 2008, archived from the original on 2011-10-06, retrieved 2009-03-10
- "Latakia".
- 1980–1983 Expansion of Lattakia Harbor – Lattakia. T. C. C. Pictures of the expanding harbour
- Asia Times. "Syria leases Mediterranean port to Iran".
- Official figures
Bibliography
- Ring, Trudy; Salkin, Robert M.; La Boda, Sharon (1994), International Dictionary of Historic Places, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-1-884964-03-9.
- Ball, Warwick (2000), Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-11376-2.
- Maʻoz, Moshe; Yaniv, Avner; Gustav Heinemann Institute of Middle Eastern Studies (1986), Syria Under Assad: Domestic Constraints and Regional Risks, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-7099-2910-2.