At independence, Iraq had little port capacity, a fact that
reflected the low level of foreign trade and the country's traditional
overland orientation toward Syria and Turkey rather than toward
the Gulf. Since then, the Gulf port of Basra has been expanded
many times, and a newer port was built at Umm Qasr to relieve
pressure on Basra. Oil terminals were located at Khawr al Amayah,
and Mina al Bakr, Al Faw, and a port was built in tandem with
an industrial center at Khawr az Zubayr. Because Iraq's access
to the Gulf was an Iranian target in the Iran-Iraq War, port activities
were curtailed severely in the 1980s. Before shipping can be resumed
after the war, the Shatt al Arab will have to be cleared of explosives
and wreckage, which will take years.
Despite long-standing government interest in developing the Tigris
and the Euphrates rivers into major arteries for inland transport,
little had been accomplished by the late 1980s, primarily because
of the massive scale of such a project. Dredging and the establishment
of navigation channels had been completed on several stretches
of the Tigris south of Baghdad, and in 1987 a river freight route
using barges was opened between Baghdad and Al Amarah. Iraq investigated
the possibility of opening the entire Tigris River between Mosul
and Baghdad, as well as the feasibility of opening a stretch of
the Euphrates between Al Hadithah and Al Qurnah, but lack of funds
precluded further action.
Country
name Iraq conventional long form Republic of Iraq conventional
short form Iraq local long form Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah local short form Al Iraq
Area
- total: 437,072 sq km land: 432,162 sq km water: 4,910 sq km
Geographic
Location - Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iran and Kuwait
Terrain
- Mostly broad plains; reedy marshes along Iranian border in south with large
flooded areas; mountains along borders with Iran and Turkey
Climate- Mostly desert; mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless summers; northern
mountainous regions along Iranian and Turkish borders experience cold winters
with occasionally heavy snows that melt in early spring, sometimes causing extensive
flooding in central and southern Iraq
Geography
- Strategic location on Shatt al Arab waterway and at the head of the Persian
Gulf
Waterways
- 1,015 km note: Shatt al Arab is usually navigable by maritime traffic
for about 130 km; channel has been dredged to 3 m and is in use; Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers have navigable sections for shallow-draft boats; Shatt al Basrah canal
was navigable by shallow-draft craft before closing in 1991 because of the Gulf
war
Information
Courtesy: The Library of Congress - Country Studies
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