Al-Durra inspects maritime, commercial activity at Salif Port, Ras Issa Marina, in Hodeidah

Transport Minister, Abdul Wahhab Al-Durra, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Red Sea Ports Corporation, Captain Muhammad Abu Bakr Ishaq, inspected the navigational and commercial workflow in Salif port and Ras Issa Marina in Al-Hodeida province.

During the visit, a meeting chaired by Al-Durra Minister with the leadership, staff and workers of the Salif Port discussed the status and work of the port, aspects of enhancing its maritime and commercial activity, an assessment of needs, priorities and stages of dealing with difficulties.

Al-Durra reviewed the commercial importance of the Salif port in receiving giant ships and providing strategic stocks of foodstuffs, especially flour, wheat, and various goods that represent an urgent need for the Yemeni people.

He explained that the current equipment of the port is not commensurate with the commercial and navigational role that it plays, especially with regard to the towing and guidance boats for the arriving ships, stressing the importance of making more efforts to raise the level of efficiency of the port’s services.

For his part, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ports Corporation reviewed the advantages that Salif Port and Ras Issa Marina enjoy from the natural depths and the possibility of receiving giant ships.

He pointed out that the leadership of the institution seeks to enhance all needs and requirements to provide locomotive and pilot boats to enhance occupational safety, especially with the diversity of activity in them.

He stressed that technicians, engineers and all port staff are making great efforts in carrying out maintenance work to maintain the readiness of port equipment and machinery due to the imposed blockade and the prevention of the entry of spare parts.

In turn, the director of the Salif port, Dr. Fouad Al-Kibsi, explained that the workers in the port are making every effort to keep pace with the activity and raise unloading rates to reduce the rates of ships staying on the docks.

While the director of the berths and yards department at the port, Fouad Al-Maamari, confirmed that work on the berths continues around the clock, with an increase and speed in the level of unloading goods.

For his part, the director of Ras Essa Marina, Ibrahim Moqbel, confirmed that the marina is witnessing navigational traffic after stopping for years, which requires the implementation of studies to activate its activity in a way that is more commensurate with its capabilities.

After that, Al-Durra, the head of ports, and the director of berths and yards visited the berths of Al-Salif Port to see the navigational and commercial activity.

They listened from the Director of Maritime Operations, Captain Muhammad Al-Sayes, to an explanation of the mechanism of entry and exit of ships, the process of organizing them, and the obstacles facing the operational process in the berths, such as the inconsistency of tugboats, pilot boats and port traffic.

Al-Durra and his entourage also inspected the facilities in Ras Issa oil berth of the Ports Corporation, and listened to an explanation from Captain Ishaq and the director of Hodeida Oil Company branch, Adnan Al-Jarmozi, about the existing arrangements for receiving oil tankers, the process of pumping into tanks, loading into locomotives, and distributing them to the provinces.

The minister and his entourage were briefed on the facilities and buildings of Ras Issa Marina, which were directly targeted by the aggression’s warplanes.