The Israel Ports Company and the Ashtrom Properties Ltd. (TASE:ASPR) Shapir Civil and Marine Engineering Ltd. consortium have signed a contract for the construction of the Haifa Bay port. The Ashtrom-Shapir consortium won the tender for the construction of the port in October 2014. The cost of the construction is about NIS 3.98 billion.
The work to construct the Haifa Bay Port includes extending the main breakwater, building a secondary breakwater, construction of quays, and marine excavation works. The company is preparing to raise debt to finance the construction of the docks, and received an Aa1 rating with a stable outlook from Midroog.
China Harbour Engineering Company unit PMEC (Pan-Mediterranean Engineering) won the tender for the South Port in Ashdod, at a cost of NIS 3.3 billion. Sources inform “Globes” that the work on the South Port is advancing, and hundreds of Israelis contractors and dozens of Chinese workers can be found at the site. Among the Israeli companies working at the site are Taavura, Ben Ari, Afcon, and companies from the Maman and Ackerstein groups.
The Israel Ports Company, which decided to split each tender into two tenders - one for the construction of the port and the other for its operation - is currently conducting tenders for the selection of the international operators. Four international operators have passed the early selection stage and have been invited to submit bids for the operation of the new ports for a 25-year period. Under the recommendations, the companies are required to present a business plan, a bid, and an environmentally-friendly operating method. This stage, leading to the selection of two companies to operate the ports, should end in the first quarter of 2015. The companies that were invited to submit bids are the Dutch group TIL, which is owned by MSC, Germany's Eurogate Group, Philippine's ICTSI, and China’s SIPG (Shanghai International Port) Co.
The construction of the Haifa Bay Port and the South Port are among the largest infrastructure projects that Israel has ever seen, and the Israel Ports Authority is promoting them with an investment of billions of shekels. This is in order to compete with the two existing large ports. Under the project, two new ports will be built - the Bay Port in Haifa, east of the existing port, and the South Port in Ashdod, north of the existing port in Ashdod.
Minister of Transportation and Road Safety Yisrael Katz said, “The new ports, which will be operated by giant international companies, will create thousands of jobs, will reduce the prices of goods and products, and will help change the economic and social reality in the State of Israel.”
Israel Ports Co. CEO Shlomo Brieman said, “The establishment of the ports is intended to meet the needs of the economy that is dependent on seaports, to improve the capacity challenges facing the existing ports, to allow for changes in ship sizes, and to reduce Israel’s dependence upon foreign ports.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 7, 2015
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015