Port Sudan Driver Loses Half His Income to Fuel Queues

Azhari Mohamed spends three days a week waiting in line for fuel. He drives a minibus in Port Sudan, carrying eight passengers between the Shagar neighborhood and the city center. His vehicle consumes three gallons of petrol daily, a cost that now eats into his thin profit margin.

The fuel itself costs 35,000 Sudanese pounds per gallon in Port Sudan, or $3.80 at the parallel market rate. In Gazira State, south of Khartoum, the price reaches 40,000 pounds. Because supply is so tight, Mohamed works two days and spends a third in queues. Some waits last five hours or more. Often, the petrol runs out before he reaches the pump, sending him back to the end of the line.

After paying for fuel, Mohamed takes home about 50,000 pounds, roughly $5.40. He uses that amount to support his wife and a daughter attending university. The scarcity has forced him to reduce his daily trips from seven round trips to a smaller number as he waits for fuel availability.

Transport unions have responded to rising costs with fare increases. This month, the Sudan Transport Chambers Union raised intercity bus fares by 40% and minibus fares by 30%. For passengers, the hike is painful. Aziza Ibrahim, a 38-year-old cleaner in Port Sudan, now works three days a week instead of five. She has four children and manages a diabetes condition.

Ibrahim’s daily round trip to the city center station costs 11,000 pounds, or $1.18. That expense consumes nearly half of her monthly salary of 400,000 pounds. Before the war, the same trip cost 700 pounds. She often borrows money to get to work and repays it when her paycheck arrives.

The United Nations Development Programme reports that the war has pushed average incomes in Sudan back to levels last seen in the 1990s. The conflict began on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum estimated war-related losses at $20 billion last year.

Supply disruptions have compounded the problem. The World Bank noted that attacks on the Balila oil field disrupted supplies to the Khartoum refinery. That refinery used to meet about 60% of national demand for petrol and liquefied petroleum gas. With domestic output down, Sudan relies on imports while a global fuel crisis raises prices for gas, petrol, and diesel.

Economic analyst Sidi Ohaj said government import rules have worsened the shortage. Importers must deposit 200kg of gold in the Central Bank and own fuel storage facilities. Some companies left the market because they could not meet these requirements. Ohaj stated that this reduced supply relative to demand. He urged the government to ease import procedures. He also cited drone attacks on infrastructure and the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran as factors disrupting global energy markets.

Businesses face similar pressures. Ahmed al-Haj, a trader in Omdurman market who packages skincare products, said higher diesel and petrol prices have raised the cost of moving a tonne of goods by 30 to 50 percent. He passes these costs on to consumers. When power cuts force him to use a fuel-powered generator, his daily expenses rise further. Local deliveries in Omdurman that cost 5,000 pounds now run 10,000 to 12,000 pounds. Goods are piling up at traders' premises as transport workers make fewer trips.