Israel imported 27,547 vehicles in May 2026, up about 63% from 16,876 in April and 7.5% more than in May last year, according to the Israel Ports Company. The increase was driven mainly by a weaker dollar against the shekel, which encouraged importers to buy more cars, while shipping-route changes caused by the fighting involving the United States, Israel and Iran also delayed some deliveries until May.
The biggest winners were the ports of Haifa and Ashdod. Haifa, owned by India’s Adani Group and Israel’s Gadot Group, unloaded 13,726 vehicles in May compared with 7,936 in April. Ashdod handled 9,983 vehicles, up from 5,798 the previous month. In early April, Ashdod had threatened to stop car unloading after a new Ports and Shipping Authority rule required vehicles to be cleared from port grounds within 72 hours to make room for essential cargo during “Operation Rising Lion.” The port said it could not meet the requirement and warned it might shut the operation down, but a compromise was later reached, after the authority’s director, Tzadok Radker, said noncompliance could lead to fines.
Eilat, by contrast, remains largely shut out of the boom. Before the war, car unloading was one of its main revenue sources, and the Nakash brothers reportedly extracted more than 162 million shekels in profits from the port over the four years before the war. In 2023, Eilat handled 149,498 vehicles, more than Ashdod’s 114,042 and Haifa’s 81,243. But since Houthi threats began in November 2023, car imports at Eilat nearly stopped, and throughout 2024 and 2025 no vehicles were unloaded there. The port has mostly served the navy and has received only a one-time 15 million shekel compensation payment.
A temporary workaround began in April, when vehicles started arriving through an indirect route via Aqaba, Jordan, then to Eilat on a Ro-Ro vessel. The method is more complicated and expensive, and the port says it is only a stopgap. Eilat unloaded 5,905 vehicles in April, 3,142 of them through the port’s regular activity, and 3,838 in May. Despite its strategic role as Israel’s sea gateway, the port is now in a bind, unable to return to full operation and unable to benefit from the national import surge. The Transportation Ministry said it is helping Eilat through deferred payments, storage-space preparation and a proposed compensation plan, but added that full recovery also depends on other ministries, including Finance and Economy.
