Beirut Port freight activity increased to around 577 thousand tons during the month of October 2023, up from 466 thousand tons in the previous month. However, and on a cumulative basis, freight activity increased by 6.33% y-o-y to 4,527 thousand tons during the first ten months of 2023 up from 4,258 thousand tons a year earlier. The number of vessels rose to 1,143 in comparison with 980 a year earlier, while the number of imported cars rose markedly to 48,381 as people flocked to buying cars ahead of any increases in the applicable exchange rate for calculating customs rates. In a related context, the Beirut port handled containers with a total cargo capacity of around 699.629 thousand TEUs (including transshipments) up to October 2023 in comparison with a cargo capacity of some 593.834 thousand TEUs during the same period in 2022.