The contract for the purchase of the Zim Lines flagship, the “King Solomon,” which will be the largest ship in the Israeli fleet, was signed here last night at a reception at the Hotel Crillon. The 23,000-ton liner will be able to carry 1,100 passengers in four classes. It is scheduled for the Haifa-Marseille-New York run and will be launched on March 19, 1963.
No information was released on the financing of the purchase but it was understood that agreement on this was reached in Washington several months ago by Israel Finance Minister Levi Eshkol and French Finance Minister M. Baumgartner. The ceremony was attended by G. Granval, the French Secretary of State for the Merchant Navy, Walter Eytan, the Israeli Ambassador, K. Yechieli, the director-general of Zim, and the director-general of the shipyards, Jean Pinczion.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
