TRULY THE PRIDE OF ISRAEL

Haifa Port

Nestled therein is Haifa Port, Israel’s leading and busiest port. Located in a natural, protected bay and including many facilities that allow for the shipping and transportation of all types of cargo as well as docking facilities for large passenger liners the port is 67% containerized handling about 51% of Israel’s cargo. This port is an operating engine for the advancement of Israel’s economy and growth as well as the source of income for thousands of employees working at all levels of the port’s activities. Head of Operations Director Mendi Moscovitsh speaks with Don Campbell about how.

“There are several benefits to Haifa Port,” he explains, “We’re situated close to the busiest shipping route in the world coming from and to the Suez Canal, our terminals are the most advanced in Israel allowing high volumes of loading and unloading and we can handle absolutely any type of cargo whether it’s bulk cargo, chemicals, fuel and even seeds.”

Benefiting from a strong network of roads and railways feeding into the port from the land side and easy access to the port from the sea, Haifa has a powerful infrastructure to ensure its continued place as the leading port in its region. It is in fact the standard on which other ports in the area need to base themselves. They are the busiest and the most efficient.

But for them, it isn’t enough. “For the big business to come your way,” Mendi points

out, “You need to have something to offer them. They need to have confidence. Confidence not only in your efficient handling of their cargo but also the capabilities of dealing with any problems they might have. Complete confidence is essential. The big ships will only come to the places that are ready for them.”

Modelling themselves on the largest and most successful ports in the world, Haifa Port have up-scaled everything to completely revolutionize the way their port functions and the services they are capable of offering.

“The port and entrance channel to the port has been deepened by over seventeen meters to make way for larger container vessels with handling capacity of 10,000 TEUs,” Mendi explains. “We have upgraded the cranes and retrained the operators, increasing staff numbers to ensure that irrespective of the time of day or night we’re working. We’ve increased containerization and enhanced the management operating system of the port making use of the latest IT advancement the highly recommendable NAVIS system. A system used in all the greatest ports.”

Additionally, there are plans to upgrade the gateway into the port with the most technologically advanced gate system.

“Imagine a cargo gateway that spreads over 17 lanes, imagine a truck passing by large numbers of automatic sensors that check it and also its driver, without being touched by human hands and, within just 90 seconds, providing the green light to enter or leave the port.”

That is the vision for this development which is currently being drafted and aimed for completion in the next four years.

Long term planning is something that Mendi is very familiar with. The project to deepen the port required over six years to complete following long periods arranging dredging permits and ecological surveys being conducted to ensure that the project would not cause any damage to the surrounding environment. The old adage, “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right,” springs to mind.

However, some of the newest developments that have had

Haifa is the third largest city in Israel, the capital of the North and serves a population of over a quarter of a million people and one of the largest industrial centres in Israel providing a hub for transport, trade, shipping and tourism. The city has institutions for higher education and scientific research, theatre, auditoriums, museums and many varied cultural and recreational facilities. The city sits at the foot of the Carmel Mountains, on its Eastern, Northern and Western slopes, on the top of the range and around the bay area.

Haifa Port

to be accommodated for have not been the result of planning on their part.

“We have had to expand our cruise business,” Mendi tells us, “It was unfortunate but after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 the cruise line business dropped dramatically. Now, it’s picking up. In fact, we’re getting so much work they’re getting in the way of some of our other operations. Not that we’re complaining, it’s a wonderful problem to have and it is good to be busy!”

Many people in the western world may not realize it but Israel has a more stable economy than Europe, part of this is attributed to it being an ‘island surrounded by enemies’ who has had to rely on its own innovation for many years and its capital growth is far higher than many European nations.

And as the economies of many of Europe’s previous big hitters continue to whither the tourists and businesses will be looking elsewhere for more solid footing to base themselves and more innovative thinkers to work with.

“Improvement doesn’t just happen on the larger scale by itself,” Mendi reminds us, “It has to be managed on all fronts and that can only happen with a clear plan of action. The other ports in Israel need to upgrade themselves to facilitate the continued arrival of cargo and cruises. The direct transfer of goods is important, the quicker and cheaper it is to deliver goods the better it becomes for the Israeli economy as prices drop but revenue increase. That is why the other ports need to start planning to expand now.”

Five solid reasons for

partnering Terberg:

> Reliable Partner

> Quality Product

> Customer Focused

> Tailormade Solutions

> Comprehensice Service

& Support

Almost 40 years of experience in engineering and manufacturing Terminal- and RoRo-Tractors.

Terberg Benschop B.V.

Benschop - Holland

Tel. +31(0)348 45 92 11

www.terbergbenschop.nl

1012 Terberg Adv Benschop 182x131.indd 1 08-10-12 16:21

Terberg Benschop

The Terberg company was founded in 1869 and is still family-owned. Terberg Benschop is a manufacturer of Yard tractors and Terminal tractors, also called Shunters, Tugmasters, Port tractors or Shunting tractors, which can be tailor-made for transport of cargo in ports, logistics, industry, railroad, tunnel construction and airports. Terberg has already grown to an organization that delivers its tailor-made vehicles to over more than 80 countries all over the world.

Haifa Portwww.haifaport.co.il+972 4851 8520

Written by Don Campbell

www.littlegatepublishing.com