An all-Israeli consortium has won the US$1.05-billion bid to build a new private port in the northern city of Haifa. Shafir Civil and Marine Engineering and Ashtrom Properties won the Israel Ports Development and Assets Company contract for the new port this month. The private port is part of a government push for more export and import competition in Israel to reduce the cost of goods. “The new port in Haifa should be up and running in six years,” said Shlomo Brieman, CEO of the Israel Ports Development and Assets Company. The project involves extending the port’s main breakwater by 882 metres and building 2 100 metres of additional quays, with a maximum waterside depth of 17.3 metres. The cargo port is designed to handle the new generation of triple-E container ships and bring the port’s total capacity up to 1.1 million TEUs.
