"Israel Shipyards will propose to the Jordanian king that the Israel Shipyards port become a joint Israeli-Jordanian port," said Israel Shipyards Ltd. owner Shlomo Shmeltzer today, during a ceremony to mark the entry of the first ship, a cargo vessel carrying 9,000 tons of sugar.
Shmeltzer said that talks on the construction of a joint port were first held in 1997 with the late King Hussein. The king said that he believed that Israeli authorities would have difficulty approving such a move. Schmeltzer said that Israel Shipyards would now renew talks on cooperation with King Abdullah and the Jordanian government.
According to Ampa Investments Ltd. chairman Shlomi Fogel, one of the owners of the port, the coming months will see the arrival of additional ships carrying a total of 200,000 tons of raw sugar. He added that the company also intends to import processed sugar and store it in the port and market it both locally and to traders in Egypt and Jordan. He also expects the port to handle ships carrying cargoes containing sunflower seeds, as well as ships en-route to Jordan, and Jordanian merchandise destined for Europe.
Israel Shipyards currently employs 350-500 people.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on September 6, 2007
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