Establishment of a Palestine shipping company with at least 250,000 tons of cargo and passenger vessels was urged today at the third annual conference of the Palestine Maritime League by Bar-Kochba Meirovitz, director of the maritime department of the Jewish Agency.
Pointing out that 45 percent of Palestine’s agricultural production and 70 percent of its industrial products must be exported by sea, and many millions of dollars are spent yearly for such transportation, Mr. Meirovitz stated that Italy’s defeat has created a gap in Mediterranean shipping which must be filled by creation of a small Palestine merchant navy. He said that $12,500,000 would be sufficient to finance the construction of 250,000 tons. This added shipping, he continued, would furnish employment for 1,500 seamen and for another 1,000 persons in allied industries.
The Agency shipping expert urged the development of Tel Aviv as a deep-water port and expansion of the fishing industry by establishment of a chain of fishing villages with a central port between Tel Aviv and Haifa.
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