Port of Ashdod
| Ashdod Port נמל אשדוד  |
|
|---|---|
Ashdod Port
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| Location | |
| Country |
 Israel
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| Location | Ashdod |
| Coordinates | 31°49′26.03″N 34°38′49.57″E / 31.8238972°N 34.6471028°E |
| Details | |
| Opened | 1965 |
| Operated by | Israel Port Authority |
| Owned by | Government of Israel |
| Type of harbor | Artificial |
| Piers | 12 |
| Statistics | |
| Annual cargo tonnage | 18.5 million tons (2010) |
| Annual container volume | 1,015,000 TEU (2010) |
| Passenger traffic | 290,692 (2010) |
| Annual revenue | ₪1,114 million |
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Website ashdodport.co.il |
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The Port of Ashdod (Hebrew: נמל אשדוד) is one of Israel's two 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. It is a major point of entry for both cargo and tourists in and out of Israel, as well as imported military equipment. Ships carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip also unload their cargo at the port.
The need to open another deep water port arose in Israel's early years, when it became clear that the expansion of the existing ports of Haifa and Eilat could not ensure efficient handling of the increasing volume of export and import cargoes. The decision to start the new port was based on a number of considerations:
The Port of Ashdod remains one of the few deep water ports in the world to be built on the open sea, and its construction involved great engineering challenges. The decision on the location and construction of the port was preceded by a maritime and climatic survey which confirmed the engineering feasibility of its construction. The physical design began in 1957-1958, a critical time, both from the point of view of the development of maritime transport and port facilities for cargo handling, and from the point of view of the development of cargo vessels. It was during this period that modern shipping concepts began to be applied throughout the world.
Its construction was based on a long term development plan. Breakwaters were built to create a harbor where quays could be built and developed in stages. In the first stage, quays 1 and 3 were built, mainly for the handling of citrus and other agricultural exports. Other parts of the port were allocated for future development, as special needs arose. Thanks to this approach, the Port of Ashdod has managed so far to supply satisfactory solutions to the new types of cargoes and vessels which developed since its opening. Modern vessels, maritime transport methods, and appropriate port facilities have developed very rapidly over the last 30 years. World shipping has undergone a real revolution vis-a-vis vessel size, new cargo handling concepts based on containerized and unitized cargo, large consignments of liquid and dry bulk products. etc.
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Wikipedia