Private company grows at expense of state owned ports
Israel: Private shipyard company gains large market share
Since then market share has increased to 20%, at the expense of a decline in the state owned port, which explains the opposition to further privatisation amongst state port employees.
The Transportation Ministry found that the private port doubled its shipping volume in 2011 versus 2010, to 533,000 tons of general cargo. Meanwhile, only 405,000 tons passed through the nearby Haifa port last year.
Total sea imports increased 6.4% versus 2010, to a total of 3 million tons.However, the two big state ports - Haifa and Ashdod - saw their volume drop 8.5% last year.
Israel Shipyards was created in 1959 as a government company, planning and building ships at the Kishon Port in the Haifa bay. In 1995, the company was privatized, and was sold for NIS 42 million to Shlomo Shmeltzer and Shlomi Fogel's Sco-Car, Samy Katsav's Nazka and Clal Industries.In August 2007, after years of trying, the company received written permission to use its dock space as a private port, although it was limited to unloading no more than 5% of the country's total sea imports.
It worked via its 900-meter long wharf that could serve ships of up to 5,000 tons.Three years ago, it created a subsidiary responsible for its port operations. It wooed Haifa port customers, offering more flexible hours, direct storage and shipping, and lower prices.It sought to conquer the market for general cargo, since this was a less important component of the large ports' operations; the latter focused more on shipping containers.
Most of the private port's operations involve unloading, not exports, which are still largely handled by the nearby Haifa port. Israel Shipyards is also dependent on the Haifa port for services including navigation, and is yet to unload shipping containers at its dock.Its competitors argue that it cuts costs by hiring subcontracted workers.Others argue in response that skilled employees at the private port earn wages similar to their counterparts at the state-owned ports, so this isn't the source of the former's competitive prices.
Source: www.haaretz.com
