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Israel is selling its state-owned ports and building new private
docks in an effort to encourage competition and bring down
costs. At the same time, warming ties with neighbouring Arab
countries are creating new trade opportunities and Haifa is well
placed to become a regional hub.
A new container terminal run by China's Shanghai International
Port Group (SIPG) is opening this year just up the coast and
Haifa port will have to be upgraded to compete.
Final offers are expected around October, an official with the
Government Companies Authority (GCA), which is handling the
sale, told Reuters. A winner should be chosen before the end of
the year with ownership transferred at the beginning of 2022.
Contenders come from Israel, Europe, India and the United Arab
Emirates, which only last year normalised ties with Israel.
The GCA official said the sale was "an orderly, international
process", adding: "geopolitics is not a factor".
To attract investors who may have concerns about competing with
the Chinese-run terminal across the bay, Israel is selling Haifa
port with a war chest of about 1.9 billion shekels ($590
million), lots of land to develop and growing consumer demand
for goods, the GCA official said.
"We plan to make Haifa the gateway to the Middle East," said
Shlomi Fogel, co-owner of Israel Shipyards Industries, which is
jointly bidding with Dubai’s DP World for the port. "We have all
the ingredients to make it happen."
Britain's DAO Shipping has teamed up with Israeli infrastructure
fund Generation Capital and London-headquartered shipping
company Lomar is finalising its participation in the consortium,
DAO and Lomar’s parent group Libra said.
"We want the port of Haifa to become a major port for general
cargo, cars, roro (roll-on/roll-off ships) and cruise (liners),"
DAO Shipping's CEO Danny Ungar told Reuters.
Libra's CEO George Logothetis said the project had "the
potential to turn the port into a multi-cargo strategic hub that
will massively benefit Israel and the wider region".
India’s Adani Ports is separately partnering with Israel's Gadot
Group, and a fourth suitor includes Israel's Shafir Engineering,
industry sources said.
Shafir and Gadot declined to comment, while officials at Adani
did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Additional reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan in Chennai; Editing
by Robert Birsel)
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