The Israel Ports Company has announced that four bidders have submitted qualifications for a concession to operate and maintain Ashdod's Southport terminal (HaDarom) and/or Haifa's Bayport terminals (HaMifratz).

The four bidders are the following:

• Terminal Investment Limited S.A. (TIL, an MSC subsidiary);
• Eurogate (Europe's leading line-independent terminal operator);
• International Container Terminal Services, Inc (ICTSI) and
• Shanghai International Port Group Co Ltd. (SIPG).

To qualify the four bidders must have an annual turnover of at least $400 million in the past two years and a minimum equity of $100 million last year. They must also have operated at least three container terminals which together handled 3 million TEUs in both 2011 and 2012, with the annual throughput of one of those terminals exceeding 750,000 TEUs.

The winning operator will complete the terminal development and operate and maintain the facilities for the duration of the contractual period.

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.