Cairo: A strike has hit the state-run port of Haifa today as the ongoing spat with the government over planned new private ports in Israel continues to simmer. Management at Haifa said no vessels or trucks would be handled today.
The Israeli government is ploughing ahead with plans to develop a couple of private ports, something that has angered workers at Haifa and the other state run port of Ashdod.
The government is counting on the new ports, which are slated to begin operations next to existing facilities in Haifa and Ashdod by 2019, to provide badly needed competition to the nation’s ports scene.
In a bid to placate the workers, Tel Aviv has just announced that the two new ports will be developed in two stages in order to avoid creating a huge increase in capacity all at once. [24/02/14]
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