TEL AVIV - Bank Leumi will provide a credit framework of 620 million shekels ($158 million) to Ashtrom Group and Shapir Engineering and Industry Ltd for the building of a new port in Haifa, the Israeli companies said on Monday. In October Israel chose local consortium Shapir-Ashtrom to build the northern port at a cost of about 4 billion shekels, part of efforts to increase competition and cut the cost of imports. Together with a second port being built in the southern city of Ashdod, the private facilities are sited adjacent to state-owned ports that handle nearly all of Israel’s exports and imports but have reputations for poor service and worker unrest. The two new ports are expected to be completed by 2020. ($1 = 3.9307 shekels)