נמל מספנות ישראל, Commercial port in Haifa, Israel
Israel Shipyards Port operates inside the Israel Shipyards complex in Haifa Bay and has been Israel's first private port since 2007, when Shaul Mofaz and Ronnie Bar-On approved port services for ships carrying raw sugar. It began with a single 200 m quay and four dunams of storage, and a shipyard slipway able to lift vessels up to 1,500 tons. A rail terminal of three tracks, about 1.5 km in total, opened in January 2025.
Israel Shipyards opened its gates to cargo ships during the 2003 port strike, when ministers Avigdor Lieberman and Benjamin Netanyahu allowed it to keep exports and raw-material imports moving. In August 2007 ministers Shaul Mofaz and Ronnie Bar-On approved port services for ships carrying raw sugar, making it the country's first private port, under a 50-year permit. The company port was formally registered in 2005, with an agreement capping it at 5% of Israel's unloading activity.
The port's name comes from Israel Shipyards, the company that operates it; the port company was formally established in 2005 as a subsidiary. In 2012 the Israel Chamber of Shipping's user satisfaction survey named it the leading port in Israel. Its rail terminal, opened in January 2025, was built by the shipyards at a cost of over 15 million shekels, with three tracks about 1.5 km long.
The port sits in the Israel Shipyards compound on Haifa Bay, and its entrance channel and water depth limit it to small and medium-sized vessels, not large grain ships. In January 2025 a rail terminal with three tracks about 1.5 km long was completed and linked to the national rail network, with freight runs handled by the subsidiary Markavei Israel.
In January 2026 the port's new grain terminal opened with the bulk carrier ZEHMA LADY, which arrived from Romania carrying about 27,500 tonnes of fodder barley. Underground conveyors move grain from the quay to the silos, and the terminal is planned to replace the old silo at Haifa Port.
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