Port of Tobruk

History

Tobruk was formerly the historic settlement of Antipyrgos, offering a major harbor for the Hellenic states. The port has never been systematically surveyed for archeological findings to evaluate the use of the port during this time.

During the Italo-Turkish War in 1911, Tobruk was the landing point for 35,000 Italian soldiers under the command of .

During World War II, the port, one of the most valuable deep water ports in North Africa, was fortified by 12,000 British and Indian troops and 14,000 Australian troops. Starting in April 1941 and ending in November 1941, German general Erwin Rommel surrounded the port besieging the troops resulting in the Siege of Tobruk.

During the 1960s, high viscosity oil from the Sarir field was piped to Tobruk for loading on vessels, because the oil was not safe to load at sea. The port has been constructed by late 1966. The first oil cargo had been exported on . It had been run by BP until 1971, when the Libyan branch of the company was nationalized.

As a result of the Libyan Civil War, the port was temporarily closed due to clashes between protestors and government forces and reopened on 28 February 2011 for oil exports. The port re-opened soon after the civil war ended. As of August 2014, all port traffic from the Port of Benghazi will be diverted to the port of Tobruk due to the closure of the port in Benghazi as a direct result of the sustained Post-civil war violence in Libya.

Operations

It requires a pilot to enter the port. The port has ten anchorages, with a six-vessel capacity each. As of 2010, the port had three cargo handling cranes, one with a 50-80 ton capacity and two with 30-40 ton capacity.

References

References

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2. [http://www.arroban.com/tobrukport.html Tobruk port]
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5. KOPANSKI, ATAULLAH BOGDAN. (1993-01-01). "Islam in Italy and in ITS Libyan Colony (720-1992)". Islamic Studies.
6. "The rats of Tobruk {{!}} Ergo".
7. Blake, G. H.. (1969-01-01). "Oil Production in Libya". Geography.
8. Al - Mesh'al (petroleum) magazine, February 1988, No. 62, p.40.
9. [http://web.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/28/libyas-eastern-port-tobruk-opens-for-oil-exports/ Libya's eastern port Tobruk opens for oil exports]
10. Gomez, Carla. (11 August 2014). "Return of Negrenses from Libya hits snag". Daily Star.
11. I, Elferjani. (2015-01-01). "Examination of port performance in a developing economy: A case study of Libyan ports". RMIT University.