The complete picture of the losses that the Beirut Port explosion caused has yet to form. While the losses are still being surveyed among the different sectors, those sustained by the car importing sector have been revealed to be massive.
After the explosion, it was revealed that car import businesses were among those that suffered the most damage and loss from the blast.
According to Elie Azzi, Head of the Syndicate of Used Cars Importers in Lebanon, around 350 imported cars in Beirut Port, worth around $5 million in total, were damaged.
Consequently, in a statement he issued on Wednesday, Azzi said that the Syndicate is cooperating with the concerned authorities in Lebanon, “especially the High Relief Commission, to survey the damages and prepare files for each car.”
The files will be submitted to the High Relief Commission with requests for compensation for their respective owners, as per the statement.
Nonetheless, the question of compensation remains unanswered today, Azzi indicated.
This is the case particularly with “the political crisis that the country is going through,” namely “the failure to form a government and the lack of knowledge of how to provide funds to compensate victims of the devastating Beirut Port explosion.”
Needless to say, cars were not the only valuables damaged by the blast. To all of the owners of commodities stored in and around the Port at the time of the explosion, the big question today is: “Who will compensate us and when?”
