Last of Syria's traditional boatbuilders struggle to stay afloat

The Bahlawan family continue to make the wooden boats they have for centuries, despite the hard labour involved and dwindling demand

Khaled Bahlawan, 39, works on a vessel at his boatyard on Syria's Mediterranean island of Arwad. All photos by AFP

The Bahlawans are the only manufacturers of traditional wooden boats on the Syrian coast, a Phoenician craft dating back thousands of years.

Arwad island is about three kilometres off the coast, near the city of Tartus.

Demand for boat-making services has dropped to all but a trickle in recent years.

The eight members of the Bahlawan family now share the work, making boats for fishermen, resorts and passenger transport operators.

Syrian craftsman Khaled Bahlawan builds a wooden boat at his boatyard in Syria's Mediterranean Island of Arwad on July 24, 2022. - The Bahlawans are the only manufacturers of traditional wooden boats on the Syrian coast, a Phoenician craft dating back thousands of years, now threatened by low demand in the age of technology. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)

Long power cuts due to years of conflict mean that Khaled Bahlawan cannot use his electrical equipment.

A worker paints a vessel at the family's boatyard.

Khaled works with his grandfather's manual tools, smoothing the wood by hand rather than with an electric plane.

Members of the Bahlawan family build boats at their boatyard in Syria's Mediterranean Island of Arwad on July 24, 2022. - The Bahlawans are the only manufacturers of traditional wooden boats on the Syrian coast, a Phoenician craft dating back thousands of years, now threatened by low demand in the age of technology. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)

Khaled says 'we are the last family that makes wooden ships and boats in Syria'.

The tradition of building and repairing wooden boats has been in the Bahlawan family for hundreds of years.

Farouk Bahlawan says the family used to make four big ships and several boats every year, which would be exported to Cyprus, Turkey and Lebanon.

This year, the family has worked on only one ship.

Hundreds of workers, residents and visitors commute to and from Arwad island every day in wooden boats, mostly built by the Bahlawan family.

Khaled Bahlawan hammers nails into a traditional wooden boat he has built by hand, toiling under the scorching sun on Syria's Mediterranean coast to preserve an ancient disappearing skill.

“We are the last family that makes wooden ships and boats in Syria,” Mr Bahlawan, 39, said on the shores of Arwad island, near the city of Tartus.

“This is the legacy of our ancestors. We are fighting to preserve it every day.”

Located about three kilometres off the coast, Arwad is Syria's only inhabited island and a haven of peace in a country torn by 11 years of civil war.

Hundreds of workers, residents and visitors commute to and from there every day in wooden boats, mostly built by the Bahlawan family.

But demand for a craft that dates back to ancient Phoenician times has dropped to just a trickle.

Eight members of the Bahlawan family now share the work, making boats for fishermen, resorts and passenger transport.

The tradition of building and repairing wooden boats has been in the family for hundreds of years.

Long power cuts due to years of conflict mean that Mr Bahlawan cannot use his electrical equipment.

Instead he works with his grandfather's manual tools, smoothing the wood by hand rather than with an electric plane.

“It's a hard task,” he said, standing inside the hull of a boat and tapping each nail carefully.

He heads to his narrow, open-air workshop near the beach every day, despite low demand and modest means.

“We are doing our best to overcome difficulties,” he said, his face covered in sweat and bits of wood shavings.

Boatbuilding has been a village tradition since Phoenician times, said Noureddine Suleiman, who heads the Arwad municipality.

In the past, the majority of Arwad's residents were boat makers, he said.

“Today, only the Bahlawan family remains,” he said.

Thousands of years ago the Phoenicians, renowned for their ship and boatbuilding, laid the foundations of marine navigation.

The skilled sailors and traders roamed the seas, bringing their knowledge and craftsmanship to other parts of the Mediterranean.

But traditional boatbuilding now risks disappearing altogether, Mr Suleiman said, as young people emigrate or search for easier, more profitable work.

Mr Bahlawan's uncle Farouk said his family had preserved the original shape and structure of ancient Phoenician boats, with a few modifications.

“We mainly make ships from eucalyptus and mulberry wood from the Tartus forests,” said the 54-year-old, a skilled carpenter.

Young children played hide-and-seek in the boats' hulls at the workshop, while an elderly man smoked in the shade of a large ship.

Close by, more than 40 wooden boats were moored at Arwad port.

“We used to manufacture four big ships and several boats every year that we would export to Cyprus, Turkey and Lebanon,” Farouk Bahlawan said.

“This year, we only worked on one ship, and it still needs a lot of work before it is done.”

He gazed at the beach, where the children ran in the sand.

“We must continue this journey,” he said, his voice welling up with emotion. “We bear a historic responsibility on our shoulders.”

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