Port of Rotterdam Authority: repair and maintenance of ports of Yemen needed

The ailing population of Yemen hardly receives any relief supplies due to the dire condition of the ports. This is stated in a report that the Port of Rotterdam Authority has written on behalf of the United Nations (UNDP) and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.

The war that has been raging in Yemen since 2015 has severely damaged the ports, causing their capacity to decline sharply. While 90 percent of the goods enter the country through the ports. In addition, capacity fell sharply due to a lack of maintenance at the ports, because specialist knowledge is lacking.

In 2019 and at the end of last year, employees of the Port of Rotterdam Authority performed a damage and capacity analysis in the ports of Aden, Hodeidah, Salif, Ras Issa and Mukalla. In their report, they argue that the war and the problems in the ports are leading to huge delays in the delivery of relief supplies and rising prices for those supplies. Due to the stagnation, but also due to corruption, food, fuels and medicines are becoming increasingly scarce.

Priceless

An estimated 50,000 Yemenis are starving. There is a shortage of food, but besides that, food has become unaffordable for many people. The UN fears that more than 16 million people in Yemen will face hunger this year, which is more than half of the population.

“Because of the lack of infrastructure in Yemen, ships must now first be unloaded in Saudi Arabia or Djibouti where the cargo is checked. Only then will the goods be transported to Yemen. That means doubling the transport costs of each container of relief goods,” says Auke Lootsma, coordinator of the UNDP in Yemen. “In addition, shipping companies pay sky-high insurance premiums. Due to the war, the premiums are sixteen times higher than in other ports.”

Recovery

According to the report of the Port of Rotterdam Authority, more ships can unload their relief supplies safely and faster if investments are made in the repair and maintenance of the damaged ports. Spare parts and specialist knowledge are also required.

But the ports are controlled by various parties, including in dangerous areas. Recovery is therefore not a safe job, says correspondent Daisy Mohr. “Anyone who starts it will want some sort of security guarantees. In this conflict that is of course not exactly easy.”

Blockade

Moreover, recovery is not the only stumbling block. “Some ports have been blocked for a long time under the leadership of Saudi Arabia. For example, fuel and food do not enter the country. Those ports are of course crucial for Yemen, where there has been a war for years and airports are certainly not always operational.”

With the conclusions from the Rotterdam report, the UN will ask the authorities to reduce the costs of importing food and to make it easier to attract knowledge and skills. Funds are also raised via UN donor countries for specialist knowledge and spare parts, among other things.

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