Haifa Port, the largest and busiest port in Israel, on Tuesday reported an all-time record high in container handling despite the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

The Mediterranean port, located in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, handled a total capacity of about 1.47 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) throughout 2020, a 6-percent increase year on year.

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The port’s previous record of about 1.46 million TEU was set in 2018.

The most substantial increase of 9 per cent was in unloading full import containers, totaling over 5,94,000 TEU in 2020, compared with 5,44,000 TEU in 2019, the port said in a statement.

In terms of exports, the number remained almost unchanged, with about 3,62,000 TEU loaded in 2020, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Haifa Port, with about 1,000 workers, handles almost 30 million tons of cargo each year.