Foreign Firms Vie to Rebuild Ravaged Beirut Port

BEIRUT - Eight months after a massive blast ripped through Beirut port and nearby districts of the Lebanese capital, a host of foreign companies with different national interests are competing to rebuild it.

"Everyone has their eyes on the port: the Russians, the Chinese, the Turks, the French and now the Germans," interim port director Bassem al-Kaissi said. "But for the moment these are only declarations of intent." The August 4 explosion of hundreds of tonnes of ill-stored fertilisers devastated the dockside and large swathes of the capital, killing more than 200 people.