BY KERIM ULKER
Ports management, metal, mining, fertilizers and chemicals, energy, international trade, and shipping company Yildirim Holding has been disqualified from the tender for the privatization of the Port of Haifa in Israel due to national security concerns, according to the tender commission’s statement made by Ram Belinkov, Director-General of Israeli Finance Ministry and Head of the Government Companies Authority.
The consortium consisting of Yildirim Holding, Turkish Global Ports Holding, the U.S.-based GreaStone Logistics, and Israeli businessman Eli Tilles bid for the privatization tender in 2020. The second bid was placed by the UAE-based DP World, which partnered with Israel Shipyards Industries.
The Israeli government started an approval process at the beginning of 2021. The UAE-based DP World was received approval in Yildirim Holding’s stead.
The National Security Council of Israel previously expressed its concerns over allowing a Turkish company to bid on a tender with a strategic asset, but the Government Companies Authority approved Yildirim Holding’s port operation subsidiary Yilport’s joining the tender consortium.
