The Zim-Israel Navigation Company, Ltd., Israel’s largest shipping concern, earned a net profit of $855,000 last year with a freight volume 10 percent higher than the previous year, it was reported here today. The progress by the company in spite of a general recession in international shipping last year, was attributed to the diversity of the line’s routes.
Zim has just taken delivery of its 47th vessel — the 23,000-ton bulk carrier Timna–the last of the 36 ships built for the company in West German shipyards under the terms of the Bonn-Israel reparations agreement. The new vessel brings the company’s fleet to a total of 400,000 tons. In addition, Zim operates 53 ships under charter on international routes.
Israel’s merchant marine is expected to reach 800,000 tons by the end of this year as a result of an expansion plan aimed at topping the 1,000,000-ton mark by 1965. The first units of the plan, which will cost an estimated $160,000,000, have been ordered from Japan.
The Israel merchant fleet, which now totals 600,000 tons, will acquire 19 new vessels this year, including two 30,000-ton bulk carriers and three 10,000-ton cargo ships. Twelve of the new ships; are to be delivered by the end of this month. The 19 vessels, which will cost a total of $50,000,000, include nine completed or nearing completion in West German shipyards under the terms of the Bonn-Israel reparations agreement.
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