Minister of Education Elias Bou Saab said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Tammam Salam vowed to resolve the controversy of the fourth basin at Beirut Port as he promised to exert his utmost efforts to suspend a strike at the facility. Bou Saab and Maronite Bishop Boulos Sayyah visited on Monday Salam at the Grand Serail to urge him to find a solution. Their visit came after the truckers syndicate at Beirut Port closed the entrance to the facility awaiting for a solution by the government. The syndicate claims that the filling of the basin would end the role of Beirut Port and would harm the country’s economy. The project will give more space to store containers. But there are concerns that transforming the Port of Beirut into a transshipment hub would direct large vessels to the Port of Tripoli because the fourth basin will no longer be able to accept big cargo ships. This will reportedly cause hundreds of Beirut Port employees, to lose their jobs. Sayyah and Bou Saab briefed on Tuesday the syndicates at Beirut Port and the representatives of Christian parties during a meeting held in Bkerke on the results of their meeting with PM Salam. Bou Saab denied in remarks to reporters that there was an agreement on filling the fourth basin and said he and the bishop are seeking to end the strike as a first step towards solving the issue.