A company from the UAE wants to lease the port of Tartus, from where the Russians were “asked” to leave

The new Syrian government has signed an investment agreement with a company from the United Arab Emirates regarding the port of Tartus, where Russia’s naval base is located.

Syrian television reported that DP World will invest $800 million in the development of the terminal and logistics services at the port of Tartus.

DP World is one of the world’s largest port operators. The company operates terminals in 40 countries.

The new agreement was signed after the termination of the agreement with Russia on the joint management of the port with the Syrian government.

Damascus terminated the 2019 agreement, which concerned the civilian part of the port.

In the same year, Moscow and Damascus agreed to lease the port of Tartus to Budtransgaz for 49 years.

The company was supposed to invest $500 million in the development of the Syrian port. However, the exact amount of actual investments remains unknown.

The Syrian authorities at the time expected the port’s capacity to increase from 4 to 38 million tons per year.

Tartus is home to Russia’s only overseas naval base. After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, a large number of trucks with evacuation equipment were delivered there.

Since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2012, the Russian navy has been actively using this base. It was modernized to accommodate large-tonnage ships.

After the start of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the base became an important hub for ensuring Russia’s military presence in the Mediterranean Sea.

This is not the first agreement on port management. On May 1, the Syrian authorities signed an agreement with French logistics operator CMA CGM to operate another port, Latakia. It provides for investments of €230 million over four years.