International commercial shipping will be giving Syria a wide berth for some time to come, after the brutal Assad regime that held power for more than 50 years was brought down over the weekend of December 7-8, creating a power vacuum in a country already destabilized by 13 years of civil war. 

According to Reuters, Syrian security sources said an Israeli Air Force strike targeted an air defense installation near Syria's Mediterranean port of Latakia during the waning hours of December 9.

After more than a week of unrest, shipping has already avoided the area. According to Splash247.com, as of December 9, VesselFinder, an AIS vessel tracking website, shows no commercial ships moored at any Syrian ports, while a spokesperson for MarineTraffic, another vessel tracking service, told Splash: “According to AIS data there are no commercial vessels now in Syria.”

Analysts at TankerTrackers.com noted the Iranian suezmax Lotus, due to deliver 750,000 barrels of Iranian crude to Syria, made a U-turn in the Gulf of Suez December 8, and headed back to Iran. 

The major ocean carriers have struggled for years to conduct business in Syria while complying with international sanctions. In September, just weeks before rebel forces began to turn the tide against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, AP Moller – Maersk said it would close down its operations in Syria from December 1, after experiencing difficulty meeting sanctions requirements. “This has recently become even more challenging logistically, and we have therefore made the decision to close our operations down completely,” said the company’s statement.

Ironically, in early November, CMA CGM quietly renewed its contract to operate the container terminal at Latakia, Syria’s largest port, despite attracting criticism for doing business there. The Mediterranean port, which came under full rebel control December 8, has been cited as a major hotspot for the smuggling of weapons for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, according to a November 10 report from Maritime Executive. Its harbor has also allegedly received regular shipments of stolen Ukrainian grain from Russian-occupied Crimea. The port is also a primary export hub for the stimulant drug fenetylline (captagon), an amphetamine-like substance that, according to the New Yorker, has provided one of Syria’s few remaining sources of steady trade revenue.

Before the dramatic events that unfolded over the weekend, the port was believed to be under the control of Maher al-Assad, according to the Carnegie Endowment. Al-Assad, brother of the dictator, and sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury, is widely considered to be a major figure in the captagon trade. 

The U.S. designated Syria a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979, and ramped up sanctions after Assad violently repressed the uprising that began in 2011. Now, with the Assad regime granted asylum in Moscow, and the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied rebel factions in control, at least for now, some Syrians want to see the penalties lifted.

Marseilles-based CMA CGM has deep roots with Syria. Lebanese-born Jacques R. Saadé founded CMA, or Compagnie maritime d’affrètement, in 1978, and the ocean carrier’s first service linked Marseilles, Livorno in Italy, Beirut in Lebanon, and Latakia, according to CMA CGM’s web page celebrating the company’s 35th anniversary in 2013.

The company initially signed the contract to operate Latakia’s container terminal back in 2009, and renewed it in 2019 for five years until October 2024, with CMA CGM maintaining that it continued to follow strictly the regulations adopted by the International community and the EU on sanction against Syria. 

In 2013, Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI) ceased operations at the Tartous Container Terminal (TICT), the country’s other commercial port, citing the ongoing civil war in the country. Opposition forces seized control of that strategic Mediterranean port city December 8.

Data from market intelligence firm Oceanbolt shows Russia was the largest source of seaborne cargoes to Syria in 2024 so far, followed by Iran, Turkey, and Egypt. 

According to SeaRates.com, the main shipping lines serving Latakia were Alianca, CMA CGM, Hamburg SUD, Maersk, MSC, NDS, Nordana and Tarros. None have released public statements about whether they will continue service.