Port of Tripoli, Mediterranean seaport in Tripoli, Lebanon

The Port of Tripoli is a working harbor with basins for ships, warehouses, and space for cargo handling. Cranes and vehicles move goods around, while docking areas accommodate different types of vessels.

The harbor stayed a natural anchorage where sailing ships of 50 to 75 tons were unloaded by hand into small boats. Under the French Mandate two dry docks, Gremblad and Sheikh Afan, were built for military tugboats. At the start of World War II, French fighter and supply planes from India, China and Vietnam used the El Mina basin as a landing area; the local current caused problems, and El Mina mayor Kheireddine Abdul Wahab won the contract for the first man-made breakwater, the beginning of the Port of Tripoli.

This port links Tripoli to international shipping routes and enables trade connections across the Mediterranean and Middle East. The daily activity here shows how the city has depended on maritime commerce for centuries.

The facility is organized into zones that handle different types of cargo, including a trade zone for packaging and processing. Visitors should know this is an active work area where some sections may not be open to public access.

The inner basin was dredged to only 8 metres after lobbying by Beirut port patrons, which later kept larger vessels out of Tripoli. The first 600 metres of a new 1,800-metre dock built by China Harbor Ltd. were finished in October 2011.