Maersk Line, the world’s largest container shipping carrier, will start to ship boxes between Israel and United Arab Emirates (UAE), as the two countries have signed agreements normalising their relations.
“Maersk has opened up cargo acceptance between the UAE and Israel following the lifting of the boycott,” confirmed a Maersk spokesman to Container News.
This is a transhipment product where an existing Maersk feeder service via Port Said in Egypt is connecting cargo to Haifa and Ashdod in Israel from the company’s direct services between Jebel Ali in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, explained the representative of the Danish shipping company.
The Maersk transhipment service is only possible after UAE, Bahrain and Israel inked a normalisation deal at the White House, in the presence of US president Donald Trump, on 15 Septemeber.
The president hailed the occasion, claiming the signing of the agreements, named as the Abraham Accords, will “change the course of history,” and marks “the dawn of a new Middle East”, reported CNN.
One day after the signing ceremony, the Dubai-based global terminal operator DP World announced it will work with DoverTower, a company owned by Shlomi Fogel, the co-owner of Israel Shipyards and Port of Eilat, in order to assess opportunities to develop trade links between UAE and Israel.
DP World and DoverTower have signed Memorandums of Understandings (MoUs) to explore development of ports, free zones and trade infrastructure, according to a statement. These MoUs cover three broad areas of co-operation: Israeli ports and free zones, including a Jebel Ali/Eilat service, customs support for trade and DP World’s subsidiary Drydocks World will discuss collaboration with Israeli yards.
As part of the above collaboration, DP World and Israel Shipyards will collaborate to establish a joint venture that will participate in the tender for privatisation of the Port of Haifa, according to Shlomi Fogel, chairman and owner of DoverTower Group, shareholder of Israel Shipyard port in Haifa and partner of Eilat Port.
Antonis Karamalegkos
Editor
