BEIRUT, Lebanon - The port of Beirut welcomed its first big cargo ships Saturday since Israel ended its punishing eight-week blockade, a major boost for an import-hungry country where 80 percent of goods arrive by sea.

"Two boats arrived at 2:00 am (2300 GMT Friday) and we immediately started to unload," said the port's director, Hassan Kraytem. "We're back in business and everyone is working."

Kraytem said two smaller vessels had arrived Friday and three ships were expected Sunday.

By mid-morning, the two container ships were almost completely unloaded and activity slowed nearly to a halt along the two kilometres (1.2 miles) of wharves and freight yards.

Lebanese police and soldiers outnumbered dockworkers, and security was reinforced by 250 French soldiers who had landed early in the day.

They were a logistics unit tasked with preparing for the arrival of a 900-man combat battalion in the next couple of weeks.

The lifting of the naval blockade a day after Israel dropped restrictions on air traffic was seen as an essential step in reviving the country's shattered economy following a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah that ended August 14.

"Beirut port is a reflection of Lebanon's economy," said Kraytem. "We are an essential part of the economy."

Not only do 80 percent of imports arrive here, but 60 percent of exports leave from the port as well

One economist told AFP the outlook for 2006 was grim.

"While we had expected GDP (gross domestic product) growth of five to six percent, it will undoubtedly be only some 2.5 percent as the result of the blockade, or even zero, if you take into account the direct and indirect losses caused by the conflict," he said.

International aid would give the country a boost, but "there is another blockade, an unseen one", the analyst added.

He pointed to a "'blockade' on investment and on confidence, which cannot be lifted until there is a definitive peace and a resolution to the political situation in Lebanon."

Kraytem said it was hard to calculate losses to the port itself from the 34-day war, and the 58-day blockade that continued until Friday.

"We hope that in the next two months we will be back to normal," he said, explaining that monthly revenues were usually in the neighborhood of eight to 10 million dollars.

The privately owned Beirut Port Authority had forecast traffic of 700,000 20-foot containers in 2006. The figure for June was a record 60,078 containers, but the affect of the war, which broke out on July 12, was evident in that month's figures of 20,000.

And in early August, of course, there was nothing.

From the window of his office, Kraytem pointed to thousands of empty containers stacked up along roughly two-thirds of the port's length.

The port, which usually received six ships a day, was also an essential gateway for merchandise headed for neighboring countries.

"We have a contract to receive 250,000 containers per year destined for neighboring countries," Kraytem said'

The good news, he added, was that the contractor had recently announced its intention to carry on. At present, 2,000 containers that were in the yards when the war began still awaited trans-shipment.

As for the economy as a whole, Kraytem said losses from the war and blockade were almost impossible to calculate, although one could start with the 300-400 men who unloaded ships in exchange for 700-1,500 dollars a month.

Israel slapped the blockade on Lebanon on July 13, a day after launching its war against Hezbollah following the capture of two soldiers in a deadly cross-border attack by the Shiite militant group.

Israel agreed to end the embargo after receiving assurances that an international force would patrol the coast and monitor the airport to keep Hezbollah from rearming.

Lebanon's large-cicrulation daily An-Nahar summed up the mood in the country.

"Lebanon has closed the book on the blockade ... and opened the one on reconstruction," it wrote.

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