Red Sea tensions threaten Sudan ports activity

Workers at Sudan’s Red Sea ports have warned of an imminent ‘complete shipping paralysis’ due to growing tensions in the Bab El Mandeb strait.

After several shipping companies announced they will temporarily halt transit through Bab El Mandeb strait off the Yemeni coast, Sudan’s Red Sea ports are witnessing a significant decline in import and export traffic.

Osman Taher, a trade union leader in Port Sudan, told Radio Dabanga that port traffic has declined by up to 40 per cent since the outbreak of war between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in mid-April last year.

“Port traffic declined by a further 25 per cent after the RSF took over Wad Madani” the capital of El Gezira, Taher said.

The union leader expressed fears of a complete paralysis in port traffic due to the current situation, indicating that “the companies that have ceased using the strait are those that Port Sudan is reliant on”.

Sugar imported from India, fuel, and materials are all goods expected to be affected by the tensions in Bab El Mandeb, “which will likely also restrict commercial traffic between Port Sudan and Egyptian and Saudi ports”.

Taher believed that the US Dollar exchange rate increase to SDG950 will “further harm conditions at the ports”.

Maritime transport experts have warned of a shock to the global economy after Yemeni Houthis began attacking commercial ships in Bab El Mandeb strait, in protest against the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 last year.