Globes, Dobby Ben Gedaliah, 22.06.2020

In recent weeks, many media outlets, in Israel and around the world, have been engaged in the United States' vigorous efforts to loosen the close economic ties between Israel and China, as part of the global trade war between the two powers. The matter escalated around the urgent visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Israel last month. One of the assessments that accompanied the visit was that it was intended, in part, to curb the delivery of the new "Gulf Port" to the Chinese SIPG for 25 years, starting in 2021.

It is difficult to know what is going on behind the scenes in the diplomatic triangle of Israel, China and the US, but it is estimated here that at this point in time, the chances of a US move to reverse the port's delivery to the Chinese are slim. Go back and it is no longer a chess piece that stands strategically on a game board between the powers, but an existing fact: a new deep water port, which will be the largest container port in Israel in a few months.

These days, Chinese-supervised international engineering teams are setting up the infrastructure for absorbing the crane and rail system, which will soon arrive in China. Other teams are completing the electrical, communications and safety systems, as well as the high-tech software and sensors, which will oversee the advanced automation operation coming in the coming months, most of which are from Chinese suppliers, according to the franchise's specifications.

The strange silence of the system

Given the volume of resources flowing into the project, its importance, the nearing completion date and its potential impact on the economy, one would expect that at this stage, a great deal of official, visible and available information on its progress, goals and delivery schedule will already be available. If not to the general public (why not?) Then at least to the relevant Knesset committees, which should be regularly updated about it, certainly in light of its sensitivity.

After all, this is not a new bus terminal or road construction, but a large, foreign-power venture, whose operation is expected to have significant implications for many circuits in the Israeli economy as early as 2021: starting with the local circuit of Haifa and the north where the port will operate and where it is supposed to generate economic oxygen ( According to the official statements that preceded the project), go through increased competition between ports and the impact on employment; And to the effect on the costs of importers and exporters by sea, shipping and more.

Currently, the state and public "system" treats the new port as if it were a secret submarine base and not a huge civilian port where billions are invested. The silence may be explained by the international sensitivity of the project to the United States, and perhaps also by the fact that the great patron of the project, Israel Katz, is currently holding its hand on the budget tap of the economy. But it is a little difficult to justify it publicly.

In spite of a vigorous search, we did not encounter any official and up-to-date governmental presentation, which was distributed to the public over the past year, nor did economic forecasts predict the future of the Treasury and / or the Knesset. The latest official update was in the State Comptroller's report on "Preparing for Competition in the Sea Ports," which was published based on a review that ended in February 2019 and also referred to the new port located in Ashdod. There we read only a general proclamation of the word "with the beginning of the operation of the new sea ports Gulf port and the southern port - in 2021, effective competition in today's ports industry in Israel will be brought to fruition rule, without elaborating on what is the benefit and its quantitative effects.

What is true, according to the same report, is that even the old ports, which are supposed to face the new competition starting next year - led by the old Haifa port - are still not really digesting the depth of the future change. According to the Comptroller, the Ministries of Transport and Finance, HNI (Israel Ports Company) and RSPAN (Shipping and Ports Authority) and the management of Haifa and Ashdod port companies have not yet completed the ports 'preparation for the expected competition in vital areas - adjusting ports' infrastructure and manpower. The new, in 2021, Haifa Port infrastructure will not be adapted to absorb large container ships, and there is doubt about the readiness of Ashdod Port Infrastructure. Cost savings and efficiency improvements. " In short, a new elephant in the room, which will destroy the local ports.

Even the city of Haifa, which in the past has taken an active-legal line to delay the progress of the port and was supposed to be one of its beneficiaries when it began to operate, prefers to maintain complete silence on the subject today. We referred the municipality questions about issues that may be relevant to residents of the area as early as next year: whether and what will be the expected revenues from property taxes, which will be paid by port operators; What is likely to be the impact on employment; What do you expect from the growth of "by-products" support that should emerge around such a significant logistics project; How control of the nature and safety of goods will be carried out to Israel at the port and the expected extent of goods transport, intended for neighboring countries; And so on. The answers never came.

Potential for crawling expansion?

In the absence of concrete and official information about the expected, we turned our gaze west toward neighboring Piraeus Port, which was almost completely controlled by Chinese shipping company COSCO in 2016. According to media outlets in Greece, the transfer of ownership was accompanied by quite a bit of friction with local workers, to the point of downtime of the port, as a result of the hiring of contract workers and what the unionized workers called "non-compliance with local employment obligations". In 2018, the situation came to a standstill, forcing the Chinese embassy in Greece to intervene.

In addition, the port has become an economic arm of "reptile" expansion by Chinese companies, including a huge $ 880 million project to build a cruise ship terminal, luxury hotels, new warehouses and more. The project has been halted in the meantime due to the opposition of the State Maritime Archeology Authority.

It is of course a different port, in another country, and controlled by another Chinese company, although it is also under the control of the Chinese government. But it is hard to imagine that the new Haifa Bay port, which, according to the publications, will be an "advanced" port with very little manpower relative to acceptable ports, and most of it will be manned by external teams, such as Piraeus, will solve the employment problems in Haifa and the north. On the other hand, it may well place serious price competition on Israel's other ports and manpower.

It is precisely the Chinese who share information

Another source of information is the Chinese side, which, paradoxically, maintains less ambiguity on the subject than the Israeli side. For the Chinese media, whose positions are apparently aligned with government positions, Haifa's new port is already a "closed and finalized deal" of strategic importance to President Xi's "Silk Road" project, and no external pressure - including the US government and even the Corona - will not be able to Delay it and certainly not bring it back.

Last week (June 19, 2020), for example, the multifunctional and influential daily CHINADAILY devoted an extensive article to the achievements of Chinese company ZMPC, one of the world's largest manufacturers of sifting, loading and logging equipment and the major supplier of heavy logistics equipment to Haifa's new Chinese port.

The article extensively reviews efforts by the Chinese company to continue expanding its global operations despite the Corona crisis and focuses on its contract to supply sophisticated automatic cranes to the new Gulf port. From there it emerges that, during May, the company sent to Haifa a Sunday delivery of four huge loading / unloading cranes to be installed on the new SIPG port docks and two rail cranes. This is just the first shipment from a massive contract that will include at the end of the process 8 cranes for loading / unloading ships and 22 cranes.

The article shows that the crane supplier attributes a lot of international prestige to this contract. And the new port is called "Central Railway Terminal for the Mediterranean". This is an interesting definition in light of the fact that the current port connections of the port are quite sparse and local. The Chinese may be planning to connect the port with a rail connection to Jordan, through the Beit Shean terminal, and from there to the Gulf states - a plan that the outgoing Minister of Transport Katz has repeatedly mentioned.

The Chinese company project manager was interviewed in the article, saying that "Haifa Port is a symbolic project along the OBOR route and will be the largest container port in Israel when its planned annual capacity of 1.86 million standard containers is completed. Hani mentioned that the port is designed for a capacity of up to 1.1 million containers, almost 70% less. Do the Chinese know something we don't know?

Fog and question marks can be added to the fact that the state retains from all its operational agreement with the future franchise of the port SIPG and previously refused to share it even with the competing ports, albeit with the public.

On the bottom line, it is difficult to find another such transport project in Israel, and of such importance, that the ambiguity surrounding it is so great. If this is indeed a first-rate economic gospel for the Israeli economy, as project thinkers claim, it could be assumed that all parties would be proud to wave it proudly, share the public and flood it with data on the glamorous future that awaits it around the corner. We only have to wonder why this is not happening.

The Port of Israel reports: "The Gulf Port is a national infrastructure project that is important to the Israeli economy, with the construction of the port infrastructure by HNI expected to be completed by early 2021, when the international company operating the port works in the field. A vital infrastructure will be added to Israeli trade. During the planning and construction of the port, in-depth economic tests were conducted that examined the contribution of the port to the city of Haifa and the national economy, and their results clearly showed a significant vital impact of the port on the Israeli and local economy. Washing down the Ministry of Transport and the Minister who heads all stages of the port's progress, and is in direct contact with the company that will manage the new port early next year. "