Israel’s government tender committee disqualified the Turkish company Yilport Holdings from participating in a tender to operate the port of Haifa, according to Feb. 14 reports in Israel, because of alleged affinity of its owners to a French Lebanese company suspected of ties with Hezbollah. 

Over the years, Israel has been confronted with problems both in the port of Haifa and Ashdod, because of the strong labor unions that controlled their operation. To solve this problem, and for other reasons as well, another port was built in Haifa. The new port, operated by a Chinese firm, has started to operate. The old port is undergoing a privatization process of being sold to an operating company. The tender in question concerns the privatization of the old Haifa port.

Several international and Israeli companies competed in the international tender that was posted, among them a group led by a Turkish company called Yilport, owned by Robert Yildirim, a Turkish businessman and friend of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The latter reportedly sent a letter of support for the company through his transportation minister to then-Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev. 

But Israeli security sources have made it difficult for the group to participate in the tender for reasons that were not stated. Yilport decided to forgo its control of the group — a consortium of several companies put together for the tender — that submitted to the tender and transferred it to the American company GraeStone. The Americans got a share of 51% of the group and the Turks were left with 25%, with another 20% going to an Israeli company and another Turkish maritime company holding 4%.