Debt ridden Eilat Port to close Sunday

Eilaat port will be closed on Sunday after the Eilaat municipality seized its bank accounts after the municipal taxes, which are estimated at 600,000-700,000 per month. The port has not fully worked since the war and the threat of Houthi attacks on charging using the Red Sea.

The closure of the port will be a blow to the Israeli Navy, which has used its facilities since the beginning of the war and will negatively affect the European Pipelines Company (EAPC), and potash exports from the Dead Sea business in ICL.

Initially, Eilat port denied reports of its imminent closure, and insisted that it would reach a settlement with the municipality and say it was cooperating with the mayor. But a message from the National Emergency Authority obtained by Globes confirms the details. The message says: “After the Eilaat port closed the continuous operations and the economic situation that it found itself as a result of the continuous crisis, the Eilat municipality has informed the port administration of the seizure of all bank accounts of the port because of the start of this manufacture every day on Sunday.

He adds that the importance of this is: stopping all the activity of the port; Disable forces and ships boats in the port; Stop assistance to the Israeli navy at the Red Sea Theater; Stop export of potash from ICL plants; Stop aid to the EAPC port; As she says: “If the situation continues, it is expected that a decrease in port equipment and long -term damage to the continuation of its functions as a result of closing cranes, electrical systems, etc.”

Emergency meeting

The report was also sent to the Ministry of Transport, which was told by General Manager Moshe bin Zaben, “Globes”, that he invited an emergency meeting on this issue, with the participation of government ministries, the Eilat municipality, and the port, in order to avoid the planned closure.

Nakash Brothers bought the rights to operate the Eilat port for 15 years in 2012, with a 10 -year option, for 120 million NIS. The Nakash Brothers were the only offers of the tender at the end of the tender, with industry sources believed that they had paid a low amount of the rights of hundreds of millions of shekels.

When the war began, the port is devoted to importing vehicles, as 50 % of cars were introduced to Israel there. In addition, the EAPC line to transport crude oil and export fertilizers and minerals also work in the port area. According to the data revealed in the Knesateet Economic Committee’s discussions, the port owners withdrew profits from NIS 162 Millio in the four years before the war.

Compensation and assistance plan In June, the Council of Ministers voted for a compensation plan for the Eilat port, which will be abandoned up to 15 million NIS, conditional on the payment of the use fees that the port has not yet paid since the outbreak of the war, with a value of more than 3 million NIS.

The government initially fulfilled the demands of the port to doubt, given the previous profits of its owners and the assumption that the security risks in its operation were embodied at the low price that the owners paid at the time of purchase. However, the port is obligated to collective agreements and restrictions imposed on manpower management, as well as the fact that the profitable discharge of cars has been cut by 100 %.

In 2023, the port’s revenue reached 212 million New while it was in 2024, when the Red Sea Trade road was closed, revenues decreased by only 80 % to 42 million shekels. In 2023, he visited more than 134 port ships, and 150,000 cars were emptied. In 2024, no vehicles were emptied, and only 16 ships visited the port. In the first half of 2025, only 6 ships visited the port.

In the past, the port was provided with assistance as part of the business plan for the entire economy for 2023 and as part of a plan dedicated to helping companies in the cities directed to tourism over the first two months of 2024. The port also received a postponement in paying the user fees to an amount of 3.2 million New and guaranteeing a country to increase its loan to 30 million

The government criticizes not paying the port to the Eilat municipality, due to the aid that was already provided, and the fact that the port was privatized, and just as its owners made a profit for a decade until the outbreak of the war, so they must “take money from their pockets” in difficult times.

But although the port is special, it is also one of the strategic assets of the state, and it is doubtful whether the efforts made so far are sufficient to keep it open.

It was published by Globes, Israel Business News – En.globes.co.il – on July 16, 2025.

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