Israel's Ministry of Transport Advances National Project for Inland Ports

Israel's Ministry of Transport is promoting a national project for the establishment of inland ports, aiming to improve logistics efficiency and reduce environmental impact.


11:26 ,17.08.2025 From: PORT2PORT

The Ministry of Transport and Road Safety is promoting a national project for the establishment of inland ports, an innovative concept of advanced logistics centers that will serve as a natural extension to seaports, allowing rapid movement of goods by train and storage on land far from the coast.

The innovative model, operating in advanced ports around the world, includes unloading cargo directly from the ship to the port, and from there to a train that will take them to the inland port, where all the release procedures from customs and approval of authorized bodies (health, economy, etc.) will take place. This will enable the evacuation of expensive areas in seaports, increase port capacity, improve logistics efficiency, and reduce environmental impacts.

Additional benefits include creating buffers that allow customers to pull goods at their convenience, reducing the environmental impacts of storage near ports, and transferring logistics activity centers to areas with high land availability and proximity to railways and main transport routes.

Last Thursday, an inter-ministerial meeting was held to present and promote the project, with representatives from the Ministries of Finance, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation, Israel Police, Tax Authority, Israel Ports Company, Israel Railways, Israel Roads and the Companies Authority. At the end of the discussion, it was decided to establish a dedicated team headed by the Economy, Budgets, and Strategy Division of the Ministry of Transport, in collaboration with all relevant professional entities, which will formulate an operation and financing model, including examining the participation of the private sector in the project (PPP), and promote feasibility studies and mapping of potential locations, especially along the new eastern railway.

Transport Minister Miri Regev said: 'The inland ports are a strategic national project that will bring about a significant change in Israel's supply chain, and will allow thousands of trucks to be removed from the road, reduce congestion, reduce pollution and lower transportation costs, for the benefit of all Israeli citizens. This is a move that will strengthen the economy, the environment, and the quality of life for all of us.'

CEO of the Ministry of Transport and Road Safety, Moshe Ben Zaken: 'The establishment of inland ports is a move that will change the face of logistics in Israel and will connect between maritime, railway, and road infrastructures in a smart and efficient way. Beyond the immediate relief in congestion and the removal of many trucks from the roads, this is a move that will free up valuable areas in seaports, increase the country's absorption capacity, and allow more efficient, flexible, and coordinated logistics management among all the entities in the transport chain. The integration of the railway as the backbone of the system will allow mass, fast, and reliable movement, alongside significant environmental benefits.'