Israel’s first and only floating drydock, a 7,500-ton installation capable of repairing ships of up to 18,000-ton weight in Israel’s own port of Haifa, started a two-month journey home today after completing five weeks of deep-sea tests in the vicinity of the Flanders Shipyard at Luebeck, where the drydock was constructed for Israel under the German-Israel Reparations Treaty.
Aboard the drydock, are a crew of eight Dutch seamen and three Israeli technicians who studied operation of the installation at the shipyard for several months, until the drydock was formally turned over to Israel. When it is installed at the port of Haifa, it will enable Israel to save considerable sums of foreign currency by performing ship repairs that, previosly, had to be done outside the country. The dock will provide employment for about 300 Israeli workmen.
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