- Zim Integrated Shipping Services
-
Zim Integrated Shipping Services 
ZIM Barcelona
Type Public Industry Shipping Founded 1945 Website www.zim.com Zim Integrated Shipping Services (Hebrew: צים), formerly Zim American Israeli Shipping and ZIM Israel Navigation Company, is the biggest cargo shipping company in Israel, and 10th largest in the world. The company's North American headquarters are based in Norfolk, Virginia.
Contents
History
ZIM was founded in 1945, by the Jewish Agency and the Histadrut (General Federation of Laborers in the Land of Israel). The first ship was purchased in partnership with Harris and Dixon (based in London) in 1947. This vessel was refurbished, renamed British mandate authorities and later joined the company's fleet. The company continued to purchase more ships, among them 1948 war, the company was the sole maritime connection with the state of Israel, supplying food, freight and military equipment.
In 1953, some of the money from the reparations agreement between Israel and West Germany was allocated to the purchase of 36 new ships, a massive expansion of ZIM's fleet.
The 1950s and 1960s saw ZIM concentrate on passenger ships, alongside a constant expansion of the cargo shipping business. Passenger liners were a common means of international transport before the emergence of cheap air transport, and pleasure cruises were also popular. ZIM sailed the Mediterranean Sea, as well as having regular routes to the United States. Some of its ships cruised to the Caribbean during the winter. 1964 saw the completion of the ocean liner SS Shalom, which turned out to be a failure, marking the end of the ZIM passenger shipping era.
During the 1960s ZIM started to turn its focus to cargo ships, and obtained several special-purpose vessels, including refrigerated shipping, and oil tankers. ZIM transported crude oil from Iran to Israel, and oil byproducts from Israel to Europe.
The 1970s saw ZIM expanding into the container shipping business. ZIM ordered 6 such ships, and gradually made this its main line of business.
In 1981 one of the company's ships, Mezada, was lost at sea and at the same time, ZIM was suffering, alongside other shipping companies, from the lull in maritime shipping at the beginning of the 1980s, but it recovered, and during the 1990s had 15 more ships built in Germany. At this time, the ownership of ZIM was divided between the Israeli government and "Hachevra Le-Israel".
ZIM Today
In 2004, ZIM was purchased by the Ofer Brothers Group. The new official name after privatization became Zim Integrated Shipping Services. The purchase deal for about five hundred million New Israeli Shekels was severely criticized by the press[1] and the State Comptroller of Israel[2] as being undervalued and becoming just another flag of convenience company
See also
- Ruth Klieger Aliav
- Tzvi Tzur
- Yochanan Vollach
- Edmond Wilhelm Brillant
- Arcadi Gaydamak
External links
References
Categories:- Transport companies of Israel
- Water transport in Israel
- Container shipping companies
- Companies based in Norfolk, Virginia
- Shipping companies of Israel
- Israeli brands
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
