The port had been built from scratch, beginning in 1905, to complement the railroad line from Khartoum to the Red Sea by serving as the entry and exit point for the foreign trade the rail line was to carry.
The company began its operations in 1947 as a government department.
In 1959 the railways made up 40% of the Sudanese gross domestic product but by 2009 only 6% of Sudan's traffic was carried by rail and since the 1970s competition from highways increased rapidly. == Highways == Sudan remains heavily dependent on railroads, but the road network has played an increasingly important role.
It has operated commercially since the late 1960s, in effect holding a monopoly on domestic service.
Once work resumed, however, Sawakin port opened in January 1991, and was capable of handling an estimated 1.5 million tons of cargo a year. ===Merchant marine=== Total: 2 ships (1,000 GT or over) totaling 38,093 GT/ Ships by type: cargo 2 (2010) The national merchant marine, Sudan Shipping Line, was established in 1962 as a joint venture between the government and Yugoslavia.
In 1967 it became wholly government owned.
In 1959 the railways made up 40% of the Sudanese gross domestic product but by 2009 only 6% of Sudan's traffic was carried by rail and since the 1970s competition from highways increased rapidly. == Highways == Sudan remains heavily dependent on railroads, but the road network has played an increasingly important role.
Most of the gravel roads in South Sudan became unusable after being heavily mined by the insurgent forces of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). The government favored the railroads until the early 1970s, believing that they better met the country's requirements for transportation and that the primary purpose of roads was to act as feeders to the rail system.
They were discontinued during the 1970s because vegetation blocked the waterways, particularly the fast-growing water hyacinth.
During the 1970s, roughly 100,000 tonnes of cargo and 250,000 passengers were carried annually.
There were also a number of tugboats, which were used to berth ships in the narrow inlet. During the early 1970s, port traffic averaged about 3 million tons a year, compared with an overall capacity of about 3.8 million tons.
Sailings, which had been mainly between Red Sea ports and northern Europe, were expanded in the late 1980s to several Mediterranean ports. ==Pipelines== refined products 815 km By the early 1970s, operational problems on the Port Sudan-Khartoum section of Sudan Railways had resulted in inadequate supplies of petroleum products reaching Khartoum and other parts of the country.
Disillusion with railroad performance led to a new emphasis on roads in a readjustment of the Five-Year Plan in 1973—the so-called Interim Action Program—and a decision to encourage competition between rail and road transport as the best way to improve services.
Since 1981 the government has tried to remedy past neglect and requested foreign assistance to dredge the rivers, improve the quays, and provide navigation aids. The River Transport Corporation (RTC) operated as a parastatal from 1973 until 2007 when two private companies, the Nile River Transport Corporation and the Sudan River Transport Corporation, took it over.
It operated as a department of SRC until 1974 when it was transferred to the Sea Ports Corporation, a newly established public enterprise set up to manage Sudan's marine ports.
In 1975 construction of an oil pipeline from the port to Khartoum was begun to relieve traffic pressure on the railroad.
It was completed in mid-1976, but leaks were discovered and the 815-kilometer-long pipeline, laid generally parallel to the railroad, did not become operational until September 1977.
In 1978, with the assistance of a loan from the IDA, work began on adding deep-water berths and providing roll-on-roll-off container facilities.
At the end of 1979, Sudan Airways had entered into a pooling agreement with Britain's Tradewinds Airways to furnish charter cargo service between that country and Khartoum under a subsidiary company, Sudan Air Cargo.
During 1979 and early 1980, eight more ships were added, including six built in Yugoslavia and two in Denmark.
Additionally, a pipeline transporting petroleum products extended from the port to Khartoum. Only minimal efforts had been expended through the early 1980s to improve existing and, according to both Sudanese and foreign observers, largely inefficiently operated transport facilities.
Some progress toward meeting equipment goals had been reported by the beginning of the 1980s, but substantial further modernization and adequately trained personnel were still required.
Paving of the dry-weather road between Khartoum and Port Sudan via AlGedaref and Kassala was the most significant immediate step. Other important road-paving projects of the early 1980s included a road from Wad Madani to Sinnar and an extension from Sinnar to Kosti on the White Nile completed in 1984.
A new cargo terminal was built at Khartoum. Sudan Airways's operations have generally shown losses, and in the early 1980s the corporation was reportedly receiving an annual government subsidy of about £Sd500,000.
However, like the railroads and river transport operators Sudan Airways suffered from a shortage of skilled personnel, overstaffing, and lacked hard currency and credit for spare parts and proper maintenance. In the early 1980s, the country's civilian airports, with the exception of Khartoum International Airport and the airport at Juba, sometimes closed during rainy periods because of runway conditions.
Much of the cleared area has become available for additional storage facilities. In the early 1980s, the Nimeiri government announced a plan to construct a new deep-water port at Sawakin, about twenty kilometers south of Port Sudan.
During 1979 and early 1980, eight more ships were added, including six built in Yugoslavia and two in Denmark.
Sailings, which had been mainly between Red Sea ports and northern Europe, were expanded in the late 1980s to several Mediterranean ports. ==Pipelines== refined products 815 km By the early 1970s, operational problems on the Port Sudan-Khartoum section of Sudan Railways had resulted in inadequate supplies of petroleum products reaching Khartoum and other parts of the country.
Since 1981 the government has tried to remedy past neglect and requested foreign assistance to dredge the rivers, improve the quays, and provide navigation aids. The River Transport Corporation (RTC) operated as a parastatal from 1973 until 2007 when two private companies, the Nile River Transport Corporation and the Sudan River Transport Corporation, took it over.
The number of domestic and international passengers increased from about 478,000 in 1982 to about 485,000 in 1984.
Air freight increased from 6 million tons per kilometer in 1982 to 7.7 million tons per kilometer in 1984.
The first phase was completed in 1982, and the second phase began in 1983, aided by a US$25-million World Bank credit.
In early 1982, steps were taken to add additional booster pumping stations to increase the rate to an annual throughput capacity of 1 million tons.
The first phase was completed in 1982, and the second phase began in 1983, aided by a US$25-million World Bank credit.
Paving of the dry-weather road between Khartoum and Port Sudan via AlGedaref and Kassala was the most significant immediate step. Other important road-paving projects of the early 1980s included a road from Wad Madani to Sinnar and an extension from Sinnar to Kosti on the White Nile completed in 1984.
Such river traffic ended in 1984 when the SPLA regularly sank the scheduled steamers, but it began to recover following the signing of the CPA in 2005. Transport services also ran at one time on tributaries of the White Nile (the Bahr al-Ghazal and the Jur River) to the west of Malakal.
However, the closing of the Southern Reach in 1984 made river traffic insignificant.
The number of domestic and international passengers increased from about 478,000 in 1982 to about 485,000 in 1984.
Air freight increased from 6 million tons per kilometer in 1982 to 7.7 million tons per kilometer in 1984.
However, in 1985, largely as a result of the civil war, exports were down to 663 thousand tons (down 51% from the previous year) and imports were 2.3 million tons (down 25% from the previous year).
Major funding for the port, known as Sawakin, was offered in 1985 by West Germany's development agency Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau and the DFC.
After the 1986 drought, which caused major problems at regional airports, the government launched a program to improve runways, to be funded locally.
In 1987 the government proposed to privatize Sudan Airways, precipitating a heated controversy that ultimately led to a joint venture between the government and private interests.
As compared with the previous year, in 1989 passenger traffic on Sudan Airways fell by 32% to 363,181 people, reducing the load factor to 34.9%.
Transport in Sudan during the early 1990s included an extensive railroad system that served the more important populated areas except in the far south, a meager road network (very little of which consisted of all-weather roads), a natural inland waterway—the Nile River and its tributaries—and a national airline that provided both international and domestic service.
Only Khartoum International Airport was equipped with modern operational facilities, but by the early 1990s, Khartoum and seven other airports had paved runways.
In 1990 the merchant marine consisted of ten ships of 122,200 deadweight tons.
In 1991 Sudan Airways had scheduled flights from Khartoum to twenty other domestic airports, although it did not always adhere to its schedules.
The Sudan Airways fleet in 1991 consisted of thirteen aircraft, including five Boeing 707s used on international flights, two Boeing 737s and two Boeing 727s employed in domestic and regional services, and four Fokker F-27s used for domestic flights. Sixteen international airlines provided regular flights to Khartoum.
Once work resumed, however, Sawakin port opened in January 1991, and was capable of handling an estimated 1.5 million tons of cargo a year. ===Merchant marine=== Total: 2 ships (1,000 GT or over) totaling 38,093 GT/ Ships by type: cargo 2 (2010) The national merchant marine, Sudan Shipping Line, was established in 1962 as a joint venture between the government and Yugoslavia.
The highway from Al-Gedaref to Gondar in Ethiopia was refurbished and reopened in 2002 to allow expansion of trade following improvement in diplomatic ties.
In early 2003, a tributary of the White Nile east of Malakal, known as the Sobat River Corridor, reopened, improving the distribution of food aid in the region.
There were six private companies operating river vessels in 2009. The government began in 2003 to expand the Sea Ports Corporation in order for it to manage river services and river-navigation studies to qualify three new ports at Malakal, Juba, and Al-Renk.
Road transport and bus services seemed likely to increase as improved roads were extended south of Khartoum in the country's main agricultural areas. In anticipation of the signing of the peace treaty in 2005, the World Food Programme appealed for US$64 million to clear the land mines and repair the roads in the South to facilitate the delivery of food to millions of people in the region and to allow another million people to safely return to their homes.
Such river traffic ended in 1984 when the SPLA regularly sank the scheduled steamers, but it began to recover following the signing of the CPA in 2005. Transport services also ran at one time on tributaries of the White Nile (the Bahr al-Ghazal and the Jur River) to the west of Malakal.
In 2006 a Kuwaiti group signed a preliminary agreement to redevelop the port of Juba on the White Nile. River cargo and passenger traffic varies from year to year, depending in large part on the availability and capacity of transport vessels.
New bridges were built over the Nile, all in Khartoum except for one that opened in 2007 in Merowe.
Since 1981 the government has tried to remedy past neglect and requested foreign assistance to dredge the rivers, improve the quays, and provide navigation aids. The River Transport Corporation (RTC) operated as a parastatal from 1973 until 2007 when two private companies, the Nile River Transport Corporation and the Sudan River Transport Corporation, took it over.
In 1959 the railways made up 40% of the Sudanese gross domestic product but by 2009 only 6% of Sudan's traffic was carried by rail and since the 1970s competition from highways increased rapidly. == Highways == Sudan remains heavily dependent on railroads, but the road network has played an increasingly important role.
Estimates of the road network in 2009 ranged upwards from 55,000 kilometers, but it is an inadequate network for the size of the country.
There were about 3,740 kilometers of gravel roads and an estimated 45,000 kilometers of mainly seasonal earth roads and sand tracks, about half of which were classified as feeder roads. The roads were generally in poor condition in 2009–10 but usable all year round, although travel might be interrupted at times during the rainy season.
A newly paved highway from Port Sudan to Atbarah, funded by the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development at a cost of US$110 million, reopened in 2009.
Construction was underway in 2009 to extend the small network of all-weather roads in the South; however, this work was still hampered by the presence of land mines. ==Inland waterways == The Nile River, traversing Sudan from south to north, provides an important inland transportation route.
There were six private companies operating river vessels in 2009. The government began in 2003 to expand the Sea Ports Corporation in order for it to manage river services and river-navigation studies to qualify three new ports at Malakal, Juba, and Al-Renk.
The “Northern Lifeline” Khartoum–Atbarah–Abu Hamid–Merowe road was also newly paved, open, and continued northward in 2011, and a paved road went from Khartoum to Kosti and on southward.
One new road linking the North and South was planned, as part of the commitment of the CPA, although it had not been built by 2011.
Manmade features such as the growing number of dams also restricts use of the river. As of 2011 (before the secession of South Sudan), Sudan had 4,068 kilometers of navigable rivers overall, but only 1,723 kilometers were open throughout the year, making river transport minimal.
Modest efforts to upgrade rail transport were reported to be underway in 2013 and 2015 to reverse decades of neglect and declining efficiency.
Modest efforts to upgrade rail transport were reported to be underway in 2013 and 2015 to reverse decades of neglect and declining efficiency.
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