Decline of ancient trade route deepens Yemeni food crisis
After two years of civil war now even from the centuries-old Arabian route from the United Arab Emirates food supplies to Yemen are falling. In these two years the flow of food was restricted into the main Yemeni cargo ports of Hodeida and Salif, where the large grain silos are located, but small boats sailing from the UAE are moving vital supplies into the smaller ports to the south coast. The volume of food carried on this route represent a small fraction of the supply to Yemen, but has become important as fighting has raged, the economy has collapsed and Yemen has needed all the help it can get. Indeed the food crisis affects 17 million Yemeni people and is going to be even worst as only a few ships arrive each week into Hodeida and Salif port has cut food deliveries due to damage to infrastructures in the neighboring in recent weeks. In this situation the UAEbased dhow captains direct their trade to the south and the average journey takes about five to eight days with the boats capable of taking up to 2000 tons of rice, spices or cooking oil.