Susah Port Development Approved

Authorities in Libya have approved plans for a new deepwater port near Susah in the north of the country, fostering hopes of breakbulk growth in the country.

Investment firm Guidry Group, which is financing the project, said it would be “one of North Africa’s most highly automated and largest deep-sea ports.”

“The pivotal goal of the Port of Susah is not only to spark an economic resurgence and additional investments from the international community, but to chart a new course for Libya and its people,” said Michael Guidry, CEO of U.S.-based Guidry Group.

The approval paves the way for construction to begin, boosting breakbulk activity in the embattled country and opening the way for a return to economic development.

 

Spark for Investment

The news follows a report by the IMF identifying Libya as the global economy that grew the most in 2018 – at a strong rate of nearly 11 percent.

“Nowhere is the nation’s shift toward economic change more evident than in Libya’s once rival East and West government authorities. They’re coming together to develop a multibillion-dollar deep-sea port in the city of Susah ... It’s the first major step toward sparking more economic investment from the international community,” a spokesperson for Guidry said.

 

Operational 2022

The Port of Susah is scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2022 and once complete will act as a international transshipment hub for mainline cargo vessels traveling to and from Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal, as well as to and from the U.S.

“This is the first-ever design-build-operate-transfer, or DBOT, public-and-private partnership infrastructure project in Libya, aimed at paving the way for Libya’s economic growth and leading role in regional trade. At the end of the long-term concession, the entire project is transferred to Libya’s government as part of the country’s resurgence,” Guidry said.

Registered in Texas, The Guidry Group won the tender to develop the port in 2015, but has faced three years of negotiations to bring together seaport authority officials in the east and west of the once war-torn country.

Photo: Susah. Credit: Wikimedia