Bidders to operate Israel's new port include two of the world's top-ten shipping companies.
Four international operations companies including two of the world's top ten are bidding in the tender to operate the new ports that the Israeli government plans building. This emerged today when the Ministry of Transport opened the enveloped for the preliminary stage of the tender.
The bids include Dutch company TIL owned by Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. , the world's second largest shipping company. The second contender is Germany's EUROGATE, Europe's largest container operator. The other bidders are ICTSI from the Philippines, which operates ports and container terminals around the world, and France's Bollore Group, owned by Africa's largest operator.
It is still not clear if the government will operate one new port at either Ashdod or Haifa or two ports. The Ministry of Finance sees no operational or economic justification for two ports while Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz is insisting on building two ports. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will decide on the matter.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 16, 2013
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