ZIM Israel Navigation: The World's Luckiest Company?

How One Company Vacated the Twin Towers Days Before 9/11

ZIM American-Israeli Shipping (“ZIM”)—the predecessor of today’s ZIM Integrated Shipping Services—was 49% owned by the Israeli government at the time of the 9/11 attacks, and the other 49% was owned by the Israel Corporation, a company founded by the Israeli government. In 2004, that stake was sold to the Ofer Brothers Group, making the family the company’s sole owner.

On 9/11, ZIM’s global headquarters were in Haifa, Israel, with regional offices in Hong Kong, Hamburg, and the United States. At that time, ZIM was one of only two Israeli companies with leases at the World Trade Center. The other, ClearForest, maintained a small office on the 47th floor of the North Tower with 18 employees. According to the Jerusalem Post, just four or five were present on 9/11, and all escaped unharmed.

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Tenant records show some variation across media outlets, but the majority indicate that ZIM occupied the entire 16th floor of WTC 1 (about 50,000 square feet), an additional 10,000 square feet on the 17th floor, and part of the 29th floor. Prior to its relocation, ZIM employed roughly 250 people at the WTC, requiring an estimated 50,000–60,000 square feet of office space.

Remarkably, ZIM completed its move out of the World Trade Center on September 4, 2001—just one week before the 9/11 attacks—and into a newly built headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia. This relocation came despite the company still holding a significant lease obligation at the WTC. The timing wasn’t spur-of-the-moment either: as early as April 3, 2001, the Virginian-Pilot reported that ZIM expected to open its Norfolk office by September 4, eventually employing 235 people. Coincidentally, hijackers Mohammed Atta and Marwan Shehhi were documented in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area during February and April 2001, around the same time ZIM was scouting and planning for the new site.

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Reports vary on how many ZIM staff remained in the WTC on 9/11. Some sources say about 10 of the company’s roughly 20 remaining employees were present that morning—none were harmed—while others note that up to 35 sales, marketing, and IT staff were still based there. Either way, only a small fraction of Zim’s former 250-person New York staff remained by September 2001.

The Norfolk project itself was a feat of speed. Zim acquired land, secured permits, designed, and completed a two-story, 45,000-square-foot steel-frame, brick-veneer office building in just six months. In commercial real estate, such compressed schedules are known as “fast-tracking,” where design and construction phases overlap to meet an urgent deadline. Zim’s real estate firm acknowledged the unusual challenge in April 2001, noting the project demanded rapid site selection, team assembly, and relocation planning—all to guarantee completion by September.