Mordechai Mano

Mordechai Mano (; 1922, Salonika, Greece – 1969) was an Israeli businessman and member of the Mano shipping family. He was one of the pioneers in the maritime industry and Israeli economy in general.

Biography Born into a shipping family from Thessaloniki, Greece, Mordechai was the son of Samuel Mano (1880-1962), who owned and operated from Thessaloniki, a fleet of “Maunas”, self-propelled barges, which served the Greek mainland and island ports. In 1932, when Mano was 9, his family immigrated to Mandatory Palestine, as part of the big immigration waves organized by Abba Hushi, an activist and leader of the Jewish Agency, in order to strengthen the Jewish working forces at the port of Haifa.

Mordechai Mano received his knowledge and experience in the maritime industry from his father Samuel (1880-1962), who had worked at the shipping docks in Salonika. Samuel and his eldest brother, Morris, worked at the Haifa port till their retirement. Mano began his career as a messenger and a port clerk at the Nisim Meshulam shipping agency, and later at the shipping company Atid (which was established in 1934 by the Burhard family) where he studied all the secrets of the shipping trade. Spending days and nights working and learning every possible aspect of the business, combined with a lot of reading on the subject, Mano soon became an expert. He was known as a pioneer and as a man with a vision and a special talent for getting on with people and making important business connections all around the world. One of his big advantages was a gift for languages. Mordechai spoke seven languages fluently (including Turkish and Arabic).

In 1956, the shipping company Netivei Hayam Hatihon (Mediterranean Seaways) was established in partnership with the Ofer Brothers Group, Mano was the company's administrator and senior partner. The company purchased a number of additional ships: “Carmela and Malka (named after his daughters), Eyal, Liora (named after Yuli Ofer's daughter Liora Ofer), and others. Netivei Hayam Hatihon established new routes and soon became a major carrier of cargo and freight to Israel through the Mediterranean and especially from the Adriatic.