(Jerusalem Post) - Dan Gerstenfeld Israel will build a railway between Ashdod and Eilat, allowing ships that dock at the Red Sea port to transfer goods to the ports of Ashdod and Haifa and from there to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea, in an attempt to compete with the Suez Canal, Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday. Netanyahu said that India and China export finished products to the U.S. and Europe by sea, but big ships arriving from the Far East are now forced to transfer their goods by land to an Egyptian port on the Mediterranean. "We can break the monopoly of the Suez Canal," Netanyahu said. "At an investment of several million shekels we can link the Mediterranean with the Red Sea." He added that, if Jordan expresses interest in joining the project, the rail link can be extended to the modernized Aqaba Port.
2003-11-10 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive