Anglo Sudan-Egyptian ) PORTS ; SHIPPING ; AVIATION 87 vessels , has been almost entirely superseded by · Port Sudan . Owing to the coral reefs on either side of the narrow entrance channel, Suakin is a difficult harbour to enter , and could never bemade safe to enter at night. There are no appliances for loading and unloading . The port still carries on a small local trade .

Smaller harbours, used by sailing craft, craft, are Trinkitat and Akik to the south of Suakin , and Mohammed Gul and Haleib to the north of Port Sudan : ( b) Shipping Lines The principal companies calling at Port Sudan are the Khedivial Mail Steamship Co., theAustrian Lloyd , the Union -Castle Mail Steamship Co., the British India Steam Navigation Co., the Clan, Bucknall, Harrison, City, Hall, and Ellerman Lines, F. C. Strick & Co. , and the Società Nazionale di Servizi Marittimi . Nearly all these maintained a service at regular intervals before the war .

( c ) Cable and Wireless Communications The Eastern Telegraph Company has a cable connecting PortSudan with its main cable at Suakin .

There is a wireless station at Port Sudan , with a normal range of 250 nautical miles.

(d ) Air Routes There are serious difficulties in the way of the estab lishment of long-distance aerial routes through Tropical Africa. Practically the whole country south of the Sahara desert zone is covered with long grass, bush , or forest, in which no aeroplane, as at present constructed, could depend on landing with any degree of safety,or, having landed , could be certain of rising again. There are , moreover, soft ground and the mists of the wet season to contend against, as well as the thick dust-laden atmosphere ofthe harmattan season on the west coast , and the still thicker smoke -laden