Sources inform ''Globes'' that Ashtrom Properties Ltd. (TASE:ASPR) and Shafir Civil and Marine Engineering Ltd. are the two Israeli companies which submitted bids in the tender to build the future port at a cost of over NIS 1 billion. Yesterday, Israel Ports Development & Assets Company Ltd. announced that eight companies bid in the tender's prequalification stage for the construction of new container terminals at Haifa Bay Port and/or the Ashdod South Port. The current tender is for extending the current breakwater and building secondary breakwaters, and wharfs, and dredging.
The government is due to decide whether the project will be operated by a private franchisee, despite threats by the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) and workers committees at Ashdod Port Company Ltd. and Haifa Port Company Ltd., which say that such a decision would be a declaration of war.
The Ports Development Company did not disclose the names of the bidders, only saying that they were companies from Israel, China, Europe, and South Africa. The sources said that Ashtrom submitted an independent bid, and that there is drama over Shafir Engineering's partner. The company had been in talks with France's Vincy SA (Euronext: DG), but its bid documents name a Spanish company instead.
Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz expressed satisfaction with the number of bidders in the PQ stage of the international tender. "The development of the seaports is critical for the economy. There is great importance in the rapid development of the ports to meet the expected growth in trade, and to handle big ships," he said.
The Ports Development Company said that, after the tender's PQ stage, the second, technical and financial stage, would get underway after approval by the transport and finance ministers.
Ports Development Company CEO Shlomo Brieman said that, within ten years, Israel will need two new container terminals, the first of which must begin operating by 2018. Since the two projects are similar in terms of engineering, it is possible to undertake the PQ stage before a decision is taken where the first project will be built. He said that the company would complete a detailed plan for the Haifa Bay Port terminal and Ashdod South Port this month, and that it was working simultaneously on other processes, including the production and storage of stone and a survey of sources of sand for the wharfs.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 8, 2013
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