Syrian ports handled 945 vessels in the first half of 2026

Across the first six months of 2026 the two Syrian commercial ports received a combined 945 vessels handling close to 8 million metric tonnes. Tartous accounted for 551 of those calls and close to 5 million tonnes, of which roughly 3.9 million tonnes were imports and 1.1 million tonnes exports. The balance, a little under 400 calls and about 3 million tonnes, went through Latakia.

Read against the two ports as they are usually described, this is consistent rather than surprising. Tartous carries the heavier share of bulk, breakbulk and general cargo and has the larger storage areas behind its quays; Latakia is the stronger container facility. A tonnage split that favours Tartous while Latakia keeps the liner container calls is what that division of labour looks like in numbers.

The first is sanctions relief. The United States Treasury issued Syria General License 25 in May 2025, lifting most sanctions, with further guidance issued later in the year by Treasury, Commerce and State. The second is infrastructure investment: long-term concessions have been reported at both ports, with DP World taking Tartous and CMA CGM taking Latakia on thirty-year terms. The third is regional rerouting, including Iraqi cargo seeking alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz.

None of these is a MIDTRANS forecast. They are reported developments, and they are listed here because together they explain why a shipper planning a Syrian import in 2026 is looking at a different operating picture from the one that existed two years ago.

A port working closer to its capacity is less forgiving of an incomplete file. Demurrage and storage begin on arrival, not on the day a missing certificate finally lands, and a legalised certificate of origin cannot be produced retrospectively at the same speed it can be arranged before shipment. The busier the quay, the more expensive the gap between arrival and readiness becomes.

The port choice question also sharpens. Cargo for Aleppo and the north loses time discharging in the south, and cargo for Homs and Damascus loses time discharging in the north. With both ports busier than they were, the cost of discharging at the wrong one is no longer only a road haul.

Vessel counts and tonnage for the first half of 2026 are as reported by the Syrian news agency SANA and by Lloyd's List. The sanctions position is from the United States Treasury's Syria General License 25 of May 2025 and subsequent inter-agency guidance. The concession reports at Tartous and Latakia are as carried by Lloyd's List.

MIDTRANS maintains an office in Damascus and coordinates Syrian import files from it. The company does not operate either port and does not present port statistics as its own measurement.