New Haifa port development questioned

Speaking during a visit to the existing Port of Haifa, Henin Hadash is said to have expressed his doubts over the new port, stating that the current port already meets the current and future demands of the industry.

But others think the expansion of Oil Refineries Ltd and the privatisation of the port could have environmental, social, economic and urban benefits for the Haifa region as a whole.

One justification put forward is that the new, private port could lower the wages of employees in comparison to those at the existing harbour.

In 2013, the Port of Haifa handled around 1.35 million containers per year, with a current maximum handling capacity of 1.8m teu. The first stage of the new project will have a capacity of around 800,000 teu per year.

But even Israel Ports Company, which is responsible for the development of Israel’s three commercial seaports in Haifa, Ashdod and Eilat, says it will be a challenge to ensure the current Haifa Port has the infrastructure needed to handle forecasted traffic. For this reason, it has a come up with a strategic port development master plan which has a “50-year planning horizon”.

Dov Frohlinger, chief operating officer of Israel Ports Company, told Port Strategy: “According to our calculations, Israel’s existing container handling capacity, taking into account both Ashdod and Haifa will be exhausted around 2018 and therefore the new projects are critical to our international trade. Without such development our ports will suffer from severe congestion and our trade costs will be severely impacted.”

“Needless to say, delays in exports will impact on the price of our exports, the reliability of our exporters and on their competitiveness in the global marketplace. It is therefore imperative that the projects proceed as scheduled,” he added.

Meanwhile, four international terminal operators are one step closer to the request for proposal (RFP) stage for the development of the Haifa port and another new development in South Ashdod.

The Israeli government approved the development of both the Bayport (Haifa) and Southport (Ashdod) projects in May, 2007, following review of Israel Ports Company’s 50-year Port Infrastructure Development Master Plan, which was published at the end of 2006.

“The construction tender is currently near its completion as we expect to receive financial proposals for both projects from the prequalified construction contractors at the beginning of May and aim to announce the winning contractor for each project in July,” added Mr Frohlinger.

The Knesset subcommittee says it will discuss the environmental and planning issues over the coming months and analyse the data to put forward to the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environmental Committee.