The Port of Haifa ('';'' ) is the largest of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

's three major international

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

s, the others being the

Port of Ashdod The Port of Ashdod () is one of Israel's three main cargo ports. The port is located in Ashdod, about 40 kilometers south of Tel Aviv, adjoining the mouth of the Lachish River. Its establishment significantly enhanced the country's port capacity ...

, and the

Port of Eilat The Port of Eilat () is the only Israeli port on the Red Sea, located at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. This strategic location has given it outsized importance despite being remote from the country's main population centers, and access ...

. Its natural deep-water

harbor A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be moored. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...

operates all year long and serves both passenger and merchant ships. It is one of the largest ports in the eastern Mediterranean in terms of freight volume and handles about 30 million tons of cargo per year (not including

Israel Shipyards Israel Shipyards is a large shipbuilding and repair facilities in the eastern Mediterranean. The company also operates a privately owned port in Israel. The company's facilities are located at the Kishon Port (part of the Port of Haifa complex) ...

' port). The port employs over 1,000 people, rising to 5,000 when cruise ships dock in Haifa. The Port of Haifa lies north of

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

's downtown quarter on the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and stretches to some three kilometres along the city's central shore with activities ranging from

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

, industrial, and commercial next to a nowadays-smaller

passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

cruising facility.

History

Haifa Bay The Bay of Haifa or Haifa Bay (, ''Mifratz Heifa''), formerly Bay of Acre, is a bay along the Mediterranean coast of Northern Israel. Haifa Bay is Israel's only natural harbor on the Mediterranean. ''Haifa Bay'' also refers one of Haifa's ni ...

has been a refuge for mariners since prehistoric times. When the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

conquered Haifa in the year 1100, it became an important town and the main port for

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...

, the capital of the

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

. The port fell into disrepair during the

Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

reign, and acquired the reputation of a pirate lair in the 18th century. During the late Ottoman period, Haifa was one of the most important nodes in trade and social networks across the region, which encompassed major cosmopolitan centres like

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

, and

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. The city was increasingly folded into the growing capitalist economy of the world and it was a key player in regional markets. Until the beginning of the 20th century,

Acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

served as the main port for the region. However, the port eventually became clogged with silt, and could not accommodate large ships. As coastal cities flourished and expanded after the British Mandate of Palestine, so did Haifa. Its population grew as a result of

urbanisation Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It can also ...

, increased Jewish immigration, and the formation of Jewish settlements within the city. The city's deep-water port was developed in this period, with construction beginning in 1922, and the port was officially opened on October 31, 1933, by Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur Wauchope, the British High Commissioner for Palestine. The port allowed Haifa to blossom, and in 1936, the city had over 100,000 inhabitants. The port was a gateway for thousands of immigrants to

after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. With Israel's western borders the Mediterranean and the eastern borders sealed by its

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

neighbors, Haifa served as a crucial gateway to the rest of the world, and helped

develop into an economic power. Today, the port brings both passenger and cargo traffic to a bustling metropolis. The port has been the scene of two fatal sinkings. The ''Patria'' disaster in 1940 killed 267 people; the loss of in 2007 killed two. In July 2022, the Israeli government announced that the Haifa port had been sold to winning bidders

Adani Ports & SEZ Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) is an Indian multinational port operator and logistics company, part of Adani Group. APSEZ is India's largest private port operator with a network of 12 ports and terminals, including Indi ...

and local chemicals and logistics group Gadot for 4.1 billion

shekels A shekel or sheqel (; , , plural , ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly 11 grams (0.35 ozt)—and became currency in ancient Tyre, Carthage and Hasmonean Judea. Name The word ...

( billion). The sale does not include the new Bay Terminal completed in 2021 which is situated across the harbor from the existing shipping terminals.

Facilities

The Port of Haifa contains many cargo terminals, and is capable of servicing many ships at once. A modern 17-lane truck gate facility can handle multiple cargo vehicles exiting the port simultaneously. A railroad freight terminal is located inside the port that in 2018 handled transporting about 221,000 containers to and from the port by rail, in addition to general cargo. The port also features a passenger terminal, fishing

wharf A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

, yacht club, sports marina, large grain silos, and a chemicals terminal. In 2018, the port processed nearly 30 million tons of cargo including 1.46 million TEUs, as well as 240,000 passengers. The port opened the first phase in the "Carmel Port" expansion program in 2010 that involved the construction of a new cargo terminal which includes a 700m long wharf capable of handling 15,500 TEU container ships with a maximum draft of 15.2m, as well as the opening of a secondary wharf plus adjacent support and storage areas. The new facilities expand the port's annual container handling capacity by 500,000 TEU. Construction of this new terminal cost NIS1.8 billion (appx. US$500 million) and took five years to complete. The Port maintains facilities for the

United States Sixth Fleet The Sixth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy operating as part of United States Naval Forces Europe and Africa. The Sixth Fleet is headquartered at Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy. The officially stated mission of the Sixt ...

Israel Shipyards port

, near the port, provides heavy ship repair facilities. The company also operates a private port on its premises which in 2017 handled approximately three million tons of cargo, consisting of mostly bulk and general cargo.

Passenger terminal

The port contains a modern passenger terminal serving cruise and ferry passengers. The terminal offers a waiting area,

duty-free shop A duty-free shop or store is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, who will ...

, souvenir shop, cafeteria, VAT reimbursement counter, currency exchange, free wireless internet, parking, as well as other services to travelers. The area near the terminal also offers excellent

public transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of wh ...

connections for passengers. The Haifa Center Railway Station is adjacent to the terminal and is served by nearly 200 passenger trains 24 hours a day on weekdays to the Haifa region and beyond. Additional public transit connections are available by bus or taxi at the railway station or on Ha'Atsma'ut Road, the main thoroughfare in downtown Haifa which is located in front of the station. The

Carmelit The Carmelit ( Arabic: كرمليت) is an underground funicular railway in Haifa, Israel. Construction started in 1956 and ended in 1959. It is the oldest funicular railway and underground transit system in the Middle East and was the only unde ...

's ''Kikar Paris'' subway station is also within walking distance and allows convenient access to the top of

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...

Expansion

As of 2018, the Israel Port Authority is managing the construction of the first phase of a major expansion of the port at a cost of NIS 4 billion (approximately US$1.1 billion). The plan involves the following: *Extensive reclamation of an area northeast of the mouth of the

Kishon River The Kishon River (, ; , – ''the intermittent river''; alternative Arabic, ) is a river in Israel that flows into the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Haifa. Course The Kishon River is a perennial stream in Israel. Its furthest source is t ...

which will enable the construction of a large new terminal to be named the "Bay Terminal" that will be capable of handling giant container ships carrying more than 15,000 TEUs each. *Extension of the main breakwater by 880 metres and construction of a new secondary breakwater. *A new fuels terminal, replacing the existing one which dates back to the 1940s. *Expansion of the existing chemicals terminal. *A dedicated freight railway terminal on the grounds of the new shipping terminal, as well as connecting the adjacent Israel Shipyards facilities to the rail network. The new container terminal was built by the Israeli construction firms Ashtrom and Shapir Marine & Civil Engineering and officially inaugurated on 1 September 2021.

Shanghai International Port Group Shanghai International Port (Group) Co., Ltd. (SIPG) is the exclusive operator of all the public terminals in the Port of Shanghai. It is a component of SSE 180 Index as well as CSI 300 Index and sub-index CSI 100 Index. Its headquarters a ...

(SIPG) won an international tender to operate the new terminal for a period of 25 years on completion. In its initial phase the Bay Terminal will be capable of handling 800,000 TEU container movements annually and planned future expansions to the terminal could handle up to an additional 700,000 TEU.

References

External links

Port of Haifa official websiteInformation for cruise passengers
{{Authority control 1933 establishments in Mandatory Palestine Economy of Haifa Geography of Haifa Tourism in Haifa Transport in Haifa

Adani Group