Yanbu' al Bahr

NASA photograph of Yanbu' al Bahr

Yanbu' al Bahr (arabic: ينبع البحر "spring by the sea"), also known simply as Yanbu, Yambo, or Yenbo, is a major Red Sea port in the Al Madinah province of western Saudi Arabia. It is approximately 350 kilometers north of Jiddah (at ).

Yanbu's history dates back at least 2500 years, when it was a staging point on the spice and incense route from Yemen to Egypt and the Mediterranean region. Yanbu served as a supply and operational base for Arab and British forces fighting the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. It remained a small port town until 1975, when the Saudi government designated it as one of the country's two new industrial centres (the other being Al Jubayl on the Persian Gulf). Its 1993 population was around 40,000.

Yanbu is an important petroleum shipping terminal and is also home to three oil refineries, a plastics facility, and several other petrochemical plants. It is the country's second port (after Jiddah) and serves as the main port for the holy city of Medina, 160km (100 miles) to the east. The natural harbour is protected on both sides by wide coral reefs. Three major oil piplelines lead across the desert from the oilfields in the east to terminate at the Red Sea in Yanbu. Yanbu also has an international airport (code YNB) and a naval base.

External links

• Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu
• Global Security's page on Yanbu' al Bahr
• General information on Yanbu