In 2015, in order to expand import and export trade and promote local economic development, Israel decided to build a new port in the northern hub city of Haifa. In the international bidding for the construction of the port, Shanghai International Port Co., Ltd. stood out in the bidding and successfully signed an agreement with the Israel Port Development and Assets Company to obtain the franchise right of the Haifa New Port for a total of 24 years and 11 months from 2021.

The Haifa New Port construction project was officially launched in 2018. The project is planned to be constructed in two phases. The length of the shoreline of the first phase is 805.5 meters, and the annual designed throughput is 1.06 million TEUs; the length of the second phase is 715.7 meters, and the annual designed throughput is 800,000 TEUs. The first phase of the construction project has been completed as scheduled and officially opened for operation on September 1, 2019.

China's plan works wonders

When the port was initially designed, local Israeli consulting engineers proposed that Haifa New Port should refer to the construction practices of Haifa Old Port and Ashdod Old Port in accordance with Israeli standards and conventional practices. However, based on the practical experience of Shanghai Port's terminal construction and the analysis of the geological structure of Haifa New Port, SIPG assessed that Israel's practice is not suitable for the construction of the new port. In order to persuade the Israeli side to adopt the Chinese plan, SIPG invited local consulting engineers to conduct an on-site inspection of Shanghai Port, and gave detailed explanations with detailed data and the Shanghai port terminal yard, which was finally approved by the relevant Israeli management departments.

Miao Qiang, general manager of SIPG Israel, said that Haifa New Port completely adopts "Chinese core". Whether it is construction or operation, Xingang has transplanted the technical achievements and mature experience accumulated in the fourth phase of Shanghai Yangshan Deepwater Port Automation Terminal, all using "Chinese brain, Chinese manufacturing, Chinese brand, Chinese standard, Chinese service", the core system is The intelligent automated terminal operating system with independent intellectual property rights developed by Shanghai Port Group.

Miao Qiang said that Haifa New Port is currently one of the most advanced and automated ports in the Middle East. The bridge crane equipment used in Xingang was built by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Group in China. After being assembled in China, it was transported to the Xingang Wharf for installation and use. The spectacular scene when the giant bridge crane entered the port once attracted a large number of Haifa residents to watch. At the same time, SIPG also introduced the electric container trucks produced by China National Heavy Duty Truck Group into the new port. Haifa New Port is currently the only port in the world that uses electric container trucks in large numbers. Miao Qiang pointed out that the promotion and use of electric container trucks in Haifa New Port has greatly reduced the environmental pollution of terminal operations, and demonstrated the green concept of China's plan to the Israeli people and the world with actions.

China service widely praised

Haifa New Port fully implements SIPG's corporate spirit and implements "China Service" with "service, professionalism, quality, and assurance", which has been widely recognized by the Israeli government, companies and the public. Miao Qiang introduced that between May and June 2021, there will be a nationwide backlog of 70,000 TEUs of empty containers in Israel. There is also a large-scale backlog of empty containers in Haifa Port. Many companies have to rent space to store empty containers for Israel. Logistics and economic development have created serious obstacles. At that time, Haifa New Port had not yet officially opened for operation, and was not qualified to operate empty containers according to the procedures. In order to help local companies and people solve their difficulties, SIPG actively responded to the request of the Israeli government and carried out free empty container operations for several months, solving a total of 35,000 TEU backlogs, which has been highly praised and recognized by all walks of life in Israel.

Since 2022, due to a large number of imported building materials at Haifa Port, a large number of cargo ships have queued up in the surrounding areas of the port. In severe cases, more than 80 ships have been stranded in the nearby sea waiting for operations. Therefore, the Israeli government came forward to negotiate and asked SIPG to help solve the problem of the backlog of ships. For this reason, since February, when the second-phase construction project of Haifa New Port has not yet started, SIPG has been approved by the government to use part of the coastline of the second-phase project to undertake a large number of general cargo operations. So far, a total of 27 ships have been completed. The second ship operation and the 160,000-ton general cargo operation have greatly alleviated the difficult situation of the backlog of ships around the Haifa Port, which is highly praised by the Israeli government and the Israeli manufacturing association.

Chinese spirit overcomes difficulties

Miao Qiang said, looking back on the construction process of Haifa New Port, from the beginning of planning, China-Israel contract, full-scale construction, official opening to operation, SIPG and China-Israel employees, under the guidance and encouragement of the Chinese spirit, have overcome many difficulties together. hinder.

The ongoing COVID-19 epidemic has had a great impact on the construction of the Haifa New Port project. Miao Qiang pointed out that the construction peak of Xingang happened to be concentrated during the epidemic. Affected by the epidemic, only about 100 of the more than 300 Chinese workers who were originally scheduled to go to Israel to participate in the construction were in place. SIPG could only temporarily hire a large number of local workers in Israel to participate in the construction of the new port, which greatly affected the construction progress of the new port. At the same time, the epidemic has also affected the stability of logistics, causing the construction of Xingang to face problems such as delays in material supply from time to time. In the face of these difficulties, under the circumstance that the outside world is not optimistic, SIPG has always adhered to both epidemic prevention and control and safety production. It became a major project with the smoothest construction process and the fastest construction speed in Israel during the epidemic, and created the Chinese speed of Chinese enterprises in Israel with the Chinese spirit.

In addition, the interference and sabotage of some Western powers have also brought serious obstacles to the smooth construction and operation of the Haifa New Port Project. After learning that a Chinese company won the bid for the construction and operation of the Haifa New Port, some Western powers have been hyping up the so-called "China threat theory" in Israel, slandering China and Chinese companies, and threatening to suspend military and security cooperation. Press the Israeli government to interfere with the normal operation of SIPG in Haifa New Port. However, after SIPG came to Israel, it fully carried forward the "Chinese spirit", actively helped the local government, companies and people to solve practical difficulties, won the general recognition from all walks of life in Israel, and explained the concept of mutual benefit, win-win and cooperative development with practical actions. Western powers' slander and slander against China and Chinese companies is self-defeating.Editor/XingWentao