Ashdod Port, approximately 40 kilometers south of Tel Aviv-Jaffa on the Mediterranean coast, was first opened in 1965 as Israel’s second Mediterranean port. The growing international trade with Israel’s industrial and agricultural centers demanded a port larger than that of Jaffa to handle cargo traffic for the central and southern parts of the country.
Ashdod Port shipping deals mainly with containers, bulk cargo (phosphates, potash, sulfur, grains and others), and “roll-on roll-off” (“ro-ro”) cargo, driven on and off the vessel (such as tractors, buses, trucks or oversized objects loaded on flatbed trailers). The Port’s establishment doubled Israel’s shipping capacity overnight, and provided a more convenient outlet for diverse exports ranging from Rehovot’s citrus crops to the Dead Sea’s potash industry.
Ashdod Port is a deep-water port built on the open sea, and its location required engineers to overcome considerable design challenges. Shapir’s decades of experience in marine engineering made our company an ideal partner for the ambitious 21st century expansion of Ashdod Port via a new northern docking center, called Hayovel Port.
The first stage required the construction of marine works for several new ship terminals, adding 600 meters of container docking capacity and 850 meters of general cargo and bulk docking. The contract works included dredging, construction of a durable breakwater, construction of sheet pile piers, earthworks, piles and onshore concrete works.
