Assessing the Effects of a War on a Container Terminal: Lessons from Al Hudaydah, Yemen

ABSTRACT: This paper is focused on the case of the container terminal of Al Hudaydah port (Yemen) and on its situation on the battlefront in a country struggling with a civil war since 2014, despite the military intervention of a Saudi-led coalition since 2015. The goal is to propose a comprehensive OSINT methodology to evaluate the case of this terminal which is the first container terminal hardly impacted by a modern conflict. This study belongs to the field of port geography studies and aims to contribute to a better comprehension of transport and security/development nexus, build on an easy-to-use GIS methodology based on open access data. Lessons learnt from Al Hudaydah container terminal are a step in the description of the relations and dynamics between war and terminals/ports. The main results show that war and battle have two different effects: war leads to long-term effects probably linked to hinterland attrition and change in port hierarchy; battle lead to short/medium-term effects linked to battlefront distance and road blockade. Finally, the port is a valuable asset for both sides involved in the Yemeni Civil War, but it is difficult to evaluate further the importance of the terminal than a sign of the port dynamics.

KEYWORDS: Container Terminal, Global Trends, Container Stack, Yemen, Military Intervention, Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Port Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (PLSCI)

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Citation note:

Guiziou F.: Assessing the Effects of a War on a Container Terminal: Lessons from Al Hudaydah, Yemen. TransNav, the International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation, Vol. 18, No. 1, doi:10.12716/1001.18.01.20, pp. 195-204, 2024

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