El-Yam, Ltd., of Haifa, a privately-owned Israeli freight-ship company, entered an order here this weekend for the construction of four cargo ships, worth 11,000,000 pounds sterling ($30,800,000), by the Furness Shipbuilding Company, a British firm. Minister of State Roy Mason, addressing the British Board of Trade today, said the contract constitutes “the most valuable single order” ever placed here by Israel, and “one of the largest orders ever received from overseas by a shipyard in Britain.”
Furness will build the 65,000 ton ships, under the contract, scheduling delivery in 1967 and 1968. Charles Clore, chairman of the Furness board, is a Jew. London newspapers, featuring news of the El-Yam contract, referred to Mr. Clore as one who has “marked sympathies” for Israel and is unafraid of any possible reactions from Arab League states interested in boycotting Israel.
Press reports today stressed that Israel now ranks as Britain’s biggest Middle East customer, having spent more than 25,000,000 ponds sterling ($70,000,000) in Britain in the first half of 1965.
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