Egyptian Ports Key in Facilitating Trade with Israel Amid Gaza Conflict, Investigation Reveals
A study conducted via an ‘open-source information investigation’ has revealed that the Egyptian seaports have been playing new roles as transit terminals for cargo and cement shipments to and from Beckel since it declared war on Gaza last October. Arabi Post Thursday tracked 19 ships for the last three months using data collected from the public domain, suggesting that these ships travel between Egypt and Israel ports.
As pointed out in the report, at least dozens of other vessels were implicated in the transport of goods to and from Israel, but these vessels are not strictly plying between Egyptian and Israeli ports. At the same time, no vessel from other Arab countries was identified as having entered an Israeli port.
Arabi Post noted that such Egyptian ports as Port Said, Alexandria Port, Damietta Port, and Sokhna Port are now critical links used in the transportation of products from and to Israel, given the closeness of the shipping channels to Israeli ports such as Ashdod Port to Gaza is at 29 km, and also the Haifa Port. It also pointed out that these ports are neighboring, so their transportation costs are tremendously low. Hence, the overall costs of the goods they transport are low.
The investigation used data from the activities of seven ports, including Ashdod and Haifa ports in Israel, Port Said and Abu Qir in Egypt, and Alexandria, Dekheila, and Damietta in Egypt, all situated on the Mediterranean Sea coastline.
From the above 19 vessels, seven were identified as container ships, six as cement carriers, five as general cargo ships, and only one as a bulk carrier used in the transportation of such products as grains, sugars, and coals. It was established that the seven container ships and five general cargo ships mainly ply between the Egyptian ports of Alexandria, Damietta, Dekheila, Port Said, and al-Arish and the Israeli ports of Haifa and Ashdod.
They operated under the flags of Panama, Liberia, Israel, Egypt, Antigua & Barbuda, Singapore, and St. Kitts & Nevis. Vesselfinder, a tracking site, lists the 12 ships linked to Egyptian, Israeli, Turkish, Greek, Singaporean, German, and Cyprusian firms.
It was even established that the six cement carriers did not often call at ports in Egypt in 2022 and 2023. However, their operations were concentrated in Israel and Egypt, especially during the war on Gaza. They operated in the Egyptian ports of al-Arish, Abu Qir, and Alexandria, where there are cement factories, and the Israeli ports of Haifa and Ashdod.
The report also pointed to a marked upsurge in trade between Egypt and Israel since the eruption of the conflict in Gaza. According to Arabi Post, the Egyptian exports from October 2023 to July 31, 2024, were $170 to Israel—one million in the first period to $162. Eight million were spent during the same period of 2022 and 2023. At the same time, Egypt’s import of goods from Israel increased by a staggering 200% to $331. 6 million, while the company’s total revenue reached $106—8 million in the comparable months of 2022 and 2023.
This probe does arise at a time when Gaza is under siege, with Egypt alleging Israel had frustrated the delivery of aid to the strip. Although Gaza is still suffering from a very narrow strip of land and severe blockage, its economic relations with Egypt and Israel are highlighted as clearly dynamic.
