The Israel Ports Company has awarded two concessions to operate and maintain Ashdod's Southport terminal (HaDarom) and Haifa's Bayport terminals (HaMifratz).

HaDarom has been awarded to Terminal Investment Limited S.A. (TIL). The firm beat out competition from a team led by Eurogate (Europe's leading line-independent terminal operator).

The other concession, HaMifratz, has been awarded to Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG). 

The winning operators will complete the terminal development and operate and maintain the facilities for a period of 25 years starting from 2021.

The new terminals are to be built on land that will be reclaimed and will feature facilities designed to handle Triple-E class vessels (18,000 TEU capacity). At last, the terminals will have two quays with a total length of some 1,600m and maximum waterside depth of 17.3m. In addition the preferred bidders will be responsible for the procurement and installation of operational equipment such as cranes, dedicated vehicles, information management systems and other equipment required.

In mid August 2014 we reported that four companies were shortlisted for the projects.

According to Yisrael Katz, the country's Minister of Transport,  the Ministry of Transport and Israel Ports has plans to make the two ports the driving force of Israeli economy. The initial capacity for both projects is expected to be about 800,000 TEUs.