Israel's two main ports of Haifa and Ashdod handled 601,000 TEU during the first quarter, with the two port company's each handling about half the total volume of containers.

The figures produced by Israel's Shipping and Ports Authority (S&PA) and the Ministry of Transport and Road Safety show that in the first three months of 2011, the two ports unloaded 307,000 TEU and loaded 294,000 TEU, reports Israeli trade news site, Port2port.

No comparative figures were provided, nor did they appear on the S&PA website. According to Wikipedia annual cargo tonnage was 18.5 million tons in 2010 and annual container volume of 1.01 million TEU the same year from Ashdod. At Haifa, the same source puts 2010 throughput at 22 million tons including 1.27 million TEU.

It said that during the first quarter of the year, Israel's four main ports handled a total of 10.97 million tons of cargo, with Haifa port company handling 5.3 million tons of the total, Ashdod port company handling 4.9 million tons, Eilat port company handling 443,000 tons, and Israel Shipyards Ltd. handling 238,000 tons.

The report said that these four ports collectively unloaded 6.2 million tons and loaded 4.7 million tons in the first quarter. They also handled a total of 65,999 motor vehicles.