Tartous port berth resumes activity after Russia hand over control to Syria

Activity at Berth Four of the Port of Tartous has resumed following its handover from Russian to Syrian government control, a move that is expected to increase the capacity at the port, but which analysts told The New Arab may not translate into bettering daily life for Syrians.

The berth, which was handed over to the Syrian government following the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Russia on Sunday, received its first commercial ship on Tuesday, according to state news Sana.

The berth, which has a 360-meter waterfront and a draft that ranges between 10 and 13 meters, is expected to add capacity to the port, with head of the Operations and Investment department, Youssef Arnous, saying that its specifications allow three large vessels to dock at the berth simultaneously and accelerate services for users.

Alongside the reopening of the berth, two cranes from the Dubai-based logistics company and port operator DP World also arrived on Tuesday as part of a modernisation of port facilities.

DP World signed a 30-year concession valued at $800 million in July 2025 that would see the company operate the port and invest in its infrastructure.

It is not immediately clear if the company will take control of Berth Four, though it has the concession to develop civilian operations at the port.

Jad Baghdadi, a Nonresident Fellow at TIMEP focusing on political economy issues in both Syria and Lebanon, told The New Arab that there were several economic benefits of the opening of the new berth at the port, but cautioned it may not see wide-reaching effects for Syria's people, who continue to suffer from high levels of poverty.

"In principle, that can lower the cost of bringing goods into the country, though whether that reaches ordinary people is harder to say."

"Since any saving at the quayside still has to survive exchange-rate swings, fuel, inland transport customs costs, and where a few importers dominate a sector, the lower costs can end up as wider profit margins rather than cheaper prices in the shops," he added.

Syria's civil war, which ravaged the country for close to 15 years, saw widespread destruction across much of the country, with vital infrastructure such as roads, housing, schools and hospitals all being severely affected.

Though the IMF has said that it expects Syria's GDP growth to exceed 10% in 2026 through the recovery of the agricultural sector, oil and gas production, improved electricity and the expansion of trade services, the country still needs significant help, including continued international humanitarian and development support alongside the maintenance of fiscal and monetary policies.

The reintegration of the berth from Russian control "sits alongside a broader choice by the new authorities to hand the country's main ports, and increasingly its energy and other strategic sectors, to foreign operators on long concessions," Baghdadi noted.

Alongside DP World's control of Tartous' port, which has been agreed to alongside the operation of Latakia's port by France's CMA CGM Latakia and is part of a wider effort to integrate Syria into regional supply chains, circumventing the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, other sections of the economy have also been given to foreign operators.

This includes Syria's oil and gas sector, with US gas firm ConocoPhillips signing a deal with the Syrian government to revive the country's gas production.

"That model can pull in investment very quickly, which Syria badly needs given the scale of reconstruction, but the risk is tilting the economy towards becoming more dependent on imports and foreign operators, and less reliant on its productive sectors," Baghdadi said, noting that the agricultural and industrial sectors need serious support, with a 2025 drought impacting production, and cheap industrial imports leading to the closure of factories.

"For most Syrians, whether farms and factories recover and start producing again matters far more."