140 



COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 



It seems now the intention of concentrating the whole exterior 

 trade of the Sudan to Port Sudan, which is the shortest 

 way to the Red Sea. During 1904 and 1905 a line was constructed 

 485 km. long from Atbara to Port Sudan, and opened in the spring of 

 1906. Atbara is on the main line 305 km. from Khartoum, and is 

 the. seat of administration of the Sudan Government Railways. The 

 line which takes the train to the Red Sea leads through the Arabian 

 rock desert, and ascends a height of 840 m. above sea level. 



Originally it was intended that the railway should have its 

 terminus at the old commercial town of Suakin, but as the harbour 

 there, on account of its coral reefs, is not open to large steamers, it 

 was decided in 1904 to build a new harbour, 60 km. north of Suakin, 

 in a large and well-protected bay of the desert. This new harbour 

 is Port Sudan. Here is, since 1906, the seat of the custom-house 

 administration. In 1909, the excellent and quite up-to-date harbour 

 works were opened, and there are at present 13 lines of steamers 

 calling regularly at Port Sudan. Amongst these is the German Ham- 

 burg-America Line ; steamers up to 10,000 tons can easily anchor. 

 The freight for 1,000 kg. is as follows : 



The charges for transferring the cargo in Port Sudan are 20 P.T. 

 per metric ton; the rate of freight was at the end of 1912 250 P.T. 

 per metric ton for ginned cotton from Port Sudan to Liverpool, and 

 125 P.T. for cotton seed from Port Sudan to Hull. The freight on 

 ginned cotton from Port Sudan to Trieste was quoted as about 

 200 P.T. per 1,000 kg. 



As the rates of freight via Port Sudan are about 8 per cent, 

 cheaper than via Wadi-Halfa, it is quite natural that the former 

 route is preferred. Since 1912 the Egyptian Government has 

 prohibited entirely the importation of unginned Sudan seed cotton 

 in order to obviate its mixing with Egyptian cotton. 



During 1911, 312 ships, with a registered tonnage of 574,000, 

 called at Port Sudan. The number of inhabitants of Port Sudan is 

 to-day, after the workmen of the railway and harbour works have 

 quitted the place, only about 1,000. There is no local industry, and 

 cultivation in the district is, w r ith the exception of a few vegetables 

 and a little forage, almost non-existent. 



Suakin is connected through a branch railway with the main 

 line and has maintained the lion's share of its old trade with India. 

 Cables connect Suakin with Suez and Dshidda ; Port Sudan is also 

 connected with the cable net of the world. 



