Tel Aviv: The Israel Ports Company has signed a contract with a consortium that comprises Ashtrom Properties and Shapir Civil and Marine Engineering for the construction of the new privately owned Haifa Bay port, Israel.
The consortium won the tender for the port construction in October 2014. The work includes extending the existing breakwater and building a new secondary breakwater, constructing quays plus marine excavation works. The new port is being built east of the existing Haifa port.
The winning bid for the tender to operate Haifa Bay port and the new private South Port in Ashdod for a 25-year period is expected to be announced this quarter.
Four companies have been invited to submit bids for the tender: Netherlands-based TIL (a subsidiary of MSC); Germany’s Eurogate Group, Philippines’ ICTSI and China’s Shanghai International Port Company.
Pan-Mediterranean Engineering, part of China Harbour Engineering Company, won the tender for the construction of Ashdod’s South Port, which will cost of NIS 3.3bn ($840m). Construction work commenced in October.
The two new privately owned ports have proved controversial. Workers at Haifa port went on strike in October in protest to the competition and threat to jobs the new Haifa Bay port poses to existing state-owned facilities. [09/01/15]
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