Africa

The Nile

Gallery

Length:

6671km
Navigability:

Until Aswan (The Blue Nile is navigable only during the high-water season and then only as far as Ar-Rusayris. Because of the presence of the cataracts north of Khartoum, the river is navigable in Sudan only in three stretches)
Countries crossed :

Burundi, DRC, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda
Inland navigation authority:

Egyptian Ministry of Transport
Traffic:

Mainly touristic (only 1% of goods transport), about 3.000.000 tons/year
Goods and type of traffics:

Tourism, containers, coal, molasses, stone, phosphates
Facts of importance:

The Nile has played a central role in human settlement and the development of a rich diversity of cultures and livelihoods for millennia.
Today, the river is still a vital waterway for the transportation of people and often still provide the only means of transport facilities, especially in Sudan when road transport is not possible during the flood season.
Most of the towns in Egypt and Sudan are situated on or near riverbanks.
 
Nevertheless, the Nile is today an underused waterway in terms of good transport. More than 3 million tons of cargo are transported per year, which represent only 20% of the waterways navigation capacity.
Main challenges for the future:

  • -Increase the traffic
  • -Land degradations
  • -Water quality degradations
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