The Israel Ports Company has published the tender documents for operating the new ports to four international companies that passed the preliminary selection stages. The request for proposal (RFP) documents are for a 25-year operating period. As part of their bids, the companies will have to submit a business plan, price bid, operating methods, and environmentally friendly operation. The deadline for submitting bids is the end of November 2014, and selection of the winning group is slated for the first quarter of 2015.
The companies passing the preliminary performance qualification stage are Dutch company Til (owned by MSC, the world's second largest shipping company); German group Eurogate, the largest cargo terminal operator in Europe; Philippine company ICTSI, which operates cargo terminals all over the world; and Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) from China, one of the leading cargo terminal operators in the Far East. Submitting bids to operate two ports is not required in the tender, but if the same bidder wins the tenders for both ports, it will have to choose between them. PMI, a subsidiary of China Harbour, the Chinese company selected to construct the southern port in Ashdod, recently won the tender to construct the ports.
At this stage, negotiations are still being held between Ports Company and the two other bidders in the tender for building Haifa Bay Port. The state is also promoting an initiative to privatize the existing ports in Ashdod and Haifa. Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz said, "The sector will be opened to competition, and the cost of living will fall, to the benefit of the Israeli public."
Ports Company CEO Shlomo Brieman said, "The inclusion of competing private operating companies in the Israeli ports sector will bring Israel's ports up to the same level as modern ports around the world that operate on a competitive model. These companies have high service levels by international standards, to which the importers, exporters, shippers, and those dealing in foreign trade are entitled."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 27, 2014
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