Publication: Reforming and Rebuilding Lebanon’s Port Sector Part II: Policies and Solutions for Digitalizing the Port of Beirut
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2021-06
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2021-08-16
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The resilience of the Lebanese port sector has proven to be low. The impact of the ongoing economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Port of Beirut (PoB) explosion has traumatized the sector and exposed its weaknesses and inabilities to predict, identify, and respond to external risks. Anticipated slow recovery is expected to intensify the burden on the economy while opportunity costs are high given the recent port developments in the Eastern Mediterranean region and globally. Digitalization is one of key foundational stones for reconstruction. The “Reforming and RebuildingLebanon’s Port Sector “ note that the World Bank published in January 2020 highlights that there is a unique opportunity for rebuilding better the PoB and recommends a roadmap around four key building blocks: i) a new governance structure based on the landlord port model; ii) efficient and modern trade compliance procedures; iii) open and transparent bidding processes for selecting investors, operators, or concessionaires; and iv) quality infrastructure contingent on a national port strategy and a revised PoB masterplan.
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“World Bank. 2021. Reforming and Rebuilding Lebanon’s Port Sector Part II: Policies and Solutions for Digitalizing the Port of Beirut. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36136 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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This update provides policy recommendations on how to improve the efficiency of the Port of Douala. The report shows that the Port of Douala is one of the least efficient of the region and that in spite of efforts deployed over the last years, the objective to reduce the global dwell time to 7 days at the end of the 1990 has not yet been achieved. Others options to improve the efficiency of the Port of Douala include: the revision of the legal framework governing the Port, the improvement of the awareness of importers and brokers on trade procedures, the acceleration of the modernization of the Port of Douala, and the improvement of data collection and analysis of trade facilitation statistics. The report recognizes that implementing these reforms will require building consensus among various stakeholders and also overcoming the status quo practices and behaviors prevailing within the Port.
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