Assab

Seaport in Eritrea situated on the west coast of the Red Sea; population (2002 est) 21,300. The oil refinery at Assab is the leading industrial enterprise in Eritrea, supplying local markets and Ethiopia. The town also has a salt works. A high proportion of Eritrea's trade is transit trade to Ethiopia and much of this passes through Assab, which is linked by a paved road to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. The town also has a significant airfield.

Formerly an Italian trading station, in 1880 Assab was taken over by the Italian government from a private company and used as a coal station for shipping. The port facilities were greatly expanded in the early 1990s, with the construction of a new terminal. During the civil war and famine of the 1980s, food aid was brought to Eritrea and the Ethiopian province of Tigré through Assab.