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Israel
Port of Ashdod
1966 Bronze Medal 60mm (94.98 grams)
ISRAEL PORTS AUTHORITY, Six naval arms plaques left, map of Israeli ports right.
ASHDOD PORT, Aerial view of port marina.
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 The Port of Ashdod (Hebrew: נמל אשדוד) is one of Israel’s three 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 handles the largest volume of cargo containers annually (1.525 million TEU in 2017) of all Israeli ports. Ships carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip also unload their cargo at Ashdod.
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 meshes with the concern for population dispersal and the establishment of urban centers in the southern part of the country.
- The port substantially shortens the overland transport of cargoes to and from the southern and central parts of the country.
- The distance from the citrus groves of Rehovot to the Port of Ashdod is 102 km shorter than to Haifa’s port and the transport of potash from Sodom to the Port of Ashdod is 120 km less than to Haifa.
- The port is close to the existing transport arteries with the possibility of developing new routes in the future.
- The port is situated near the industrial and production centers of the country, as well as to Tel Aviv, the commercial center.
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.
The port began operations on November 21, 1965, with the entry of the Swedish ship “Wingland” and its cargo of sugar.
 Israel (/ˈɪzriəl, ˈɪzreɪəl/; Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל; Arabic: إِسْرَائِيل), officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest. The country contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel’s economic and technological center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, although the state’s sovereignty over Jerusalem has only partial recognition.
Israel has evidence of the earliest migration of hominids out of Africa. Canaanite tribes are archaeologically attested since the Middle Bronze Age, while the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah emerged during the Iron Age. The Neo-Assyrian Empire destroyed Israel around 720 BCE. Judah was later conquered by the Babylonian, Persian and Hellenistic empires and had existed as Jewish autonomous provinces. The successful Maccabean Revolt led to an independent Hasmonean kingdom by 110 BCE, which in 63 BCE however became a client state of the Roman Republic that subsequently installed the Herodian dynasty in 37 BCE, and in 6 CE created the Roman province of Judea. Judea lasted as a Roman province until the failed Jewish revolts resulted in widespread destruction, expulsion of Jewish population and the renaming of the region from Iudaea to Syria Palaestina.[34] Jewish presence in the region has persisted to a certain extent over the centuries. In the 7th century the Levant was taken from the Byzantine Empire by the Arabs and remained in Muslim control until the First Crusade of 1099, followed by the Ayyubid conquest of 1187. The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt extended its control over the Levant in the 13th century until its defeat by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. During the 19th century, national awakening among Jews led to the establishment of the Zionist movement in the diaspora followed by waves of immigration to Ottoman and later British Palestine.
 In 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency, and rejected by Arab leaders. The following year, the Jewish Agency declared the independence of the State of Israel, and the subsequent 1948 Arab-Israeli War saw Israel’s establishment over most of the former Mandate territory, while the West Bank and Gaza were held by neighboring Arab states. Israel has since fought several wars with Arab countries, and it has since 1967 occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip (still considered occupied after 2005 disengagement, although some legal experts dispute this claim).[41][42][43][fn 4] It extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories is the world’s longest military occupation in modern times.[fn 4][49] Efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have not resulted in a final peace agreement. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have been signed.
In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish and democratic state. Israel is a representative democracy[neutrality is disputed] with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature. Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 32nd-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2017. The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. Israel has the highest standard of living in the Middle East, and has one of the highest life expectancies in the world.
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