2.1 Port Assessment Port Assessment Overview

There are four main commercial seaports in western Libya: the port of , the port of Al Khoms, the port of Misratah and the port of Zwarah. In eastern Libya there are two main seaports: and Tobruk. .

The is the principal port in Tripoli, the capital of Libya, and one of the oldest ports in the Mediterranean. It is managed and operated by the "Libyan Ports Company", and handles different types of products including containerized and bulk cargoes, livestock, chemical and oils, etc. The port is protected by two breakwaters of 2000 and 700 meters, and the harbour covers about 500 hectares, and can accommodate vessels up to 190 meters long with maximum draft of 10.5 meters. The port’s maximum annual capacity is about 4 M Tons.

Al Khoms Port is a small port for bulk carriers, general containers, livestock, car carriers, and oil and chemical items. It has an entrance channel of 16 meters depth, and an anchorage with a depth of 10.5 to 11.5 meters. The port itself consists of nine medium sized berths (numbers 12 to 19) with lengths ranging from 75 to 530 meters, and maximum drafts ranging from 10.5 to 11.5 meters depending on the berth. The port is well organized, functioning, and had no security breaches reported in 2018.

Misratah Port is connected directly to the main motorway by a heavy transportation road (that does not cross the city centre). The port is under development and has a target to add more berths with total lengths of 2,250m, and drafts of 13m, in order to receive 4 million containers per year. The port of Misratah has a current capacity of 6,000,000 tons per annum. The maximum depth is 11 m and the total length of berths is 3,550 m long.

Benghazi Port is one of the biggest ports in Libya, located in the east of the country on the Mediterranean coast. Its total size stands at 4,400,000 metres squared. The port is managed by the Libyan Ports Company. The Port of Benghazi resumed operations in October 2017, having suspended operations 3 years earlier due to internal disruptions. The infrastructure is in workable condition, and navigation signals and buoys are in place. Historically, this port was the primary gateway for incoming humanitarian traffic in 2007 following the crisis in Darfur, Sudan. The port consists of the old harbour which contains nine berths (1-9) for receiving general cargo and containers, and the Juliana harbour which also has nine berths that receive general cargo and containers, as well as silos, direct delivery goods and bulk items.

The Port of Tobruk is a port located in Tobruk, in eastern Libya near the Egyptian border – it lies approximately 450 kilometres east of Benghazi. The entrance to the main channel into the port is between the point of Tobruk and the point of Marsa Ummash Shawush. The port has ten anchorages, each a capacity of six vessels. As of 2010, the port had three cargo handling cranes, one with a 50-80 ton capacity, and two with 30-40 ton capacity.

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