Business group secretly forming to buy Haifa port when privatized

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

27 Dec 2007

The Chamber of Commerce of Haifa and the North is secretly forming a group of businessmen to buy out the Haifa port, when it is privatized. The businessmen intend to incorporate a joint business to make the purchase. Members of the Haifa Chamber of Commerce that have a financial interest in such a step include the Haifa Refinery and the Zim shipping company (of the Israel Corporation), as well as Carmel Olefins and Mano Shipping. Haifa Chamber of Commerce president Oded Feller said the group includes top businessmen from the northern area, and that the group would "be capable of ensuring long-term financial stability and a substantial volume of activity in the port." He refused to provide more information about the initiative's participants. The initiative comes amid news that public entities are now preparing to lobby to buy the Ashdod Port, following the call by the Ashdod and Haifa port CEOs last month to rethink the schedule of the port reform and the steps toward their privatization. The announcements received the unexpected support of Transportation Ministry Director General Gideon Siterman. "Privatization of a few percentages, as scheduled for 2010, is unacceptable to me. There is no reason to begin privatization in 2010 simply because the reform agreement was thus worded. A mistake like the one made by the state in constructing the Millennium Airport is made only once. I support moving up the privatization, and we are working on it," Siterman said. The government approved the seaport reform in February, 2005. The reform includes a schedule for gradual privatization of the ports, beginning in 2010, when 15% of their shares are set to be floated on the stock market, and ending with a full privatization (more than 50%) only in 2020. A report prepared by an external committee mentioned a substantial drop in the ports' functionality, despite the surging demand for sea transport - in breach of promises made by unions to refrain from labor disruptions. TheMarker reported last month that the finance and transportation ministries already had begun reviewing the option of moving up the privatization of the Eilat port, with the workers' agreement. "Local entrepreneurs believe in the Haifa port and its capabilities," Feller said in response to the report. "We believe the port can be, with proper management and investment, the principal Mediterranean port, where goods leave for all countries in the area. The requests we have received reflect a will to bring the Haifa port toward this goal, and I have no doubt that port workers will see the introduction of members of the private sector as a business opportunity for themselves as well, since this initiative sees them as an integral part of the privatization."