A German company has treated hazardous materials in the port of Beirut and is preparing to ship them

Today Saturday, the German Embassy in Beirut announced the end of the process of processing 52 containers containing highly dangerous chemicals that have been in the port of Beirut for more than a decade, to be shipped to Germany.
Last November, Lebanon signed a contract with the German company “Combi Lift” worth 3.6 million dollars to dispose of dangerous flammable materials after discovering that they were stored in the port of Beirut, which witnessed a terrible explosion six months ago, in which more than 200 people died. and injuring more than 6,500 and causing serious damage to the country’s main port and several neighborhoods in the capital.
The German Ambassador to Beirut, Andreas Kindle, confirmed on Twitter that the first part of the mission had been completed after “Combi Lift handled 52 containers of extremely dangerous chemicals, which had accumulated over decades and posed a threat to people. in Beirut “. He added: “It is now ready to be shipped to Germany.”
The containers had been under the supervision of the General Directorate of Customs since 2009, which had the responsibility of disposing. Its existence emerged almost a month after the August 4 explosion, which authorities attributed to the storage of large amounts of ammonium nitrate without preventive measures.
A report prepared by the General Directorate of Public Security concluded that the containers that were treated “contain dangerous, flammable acid substances that react quickly over time.”
The head of the board of directors, the director general of the port, speaking on behalf of Al-Qaisi, told the French press on November 19: “If the materials distributed in the heart of the port caught fire, Beirut would be destroyed.”
Interested agencies, whether military or port administration, do not have the capacity to destroy materials that require knowledge and technologies that are not locally available.
The contract provides for the reloading of hazardous materials in new special containers that withstand high temperatures and their transport outside of Lebanon. The value of the contract is $ 3.6 million, of which two million will be paid by the port administration, while the company earns $ 1.6 million.