Yanbuʿ

Yanbuʿ, also spelled Yenbo, town, western Saudi Arabia, on the Red Sea north of Jiddah. It serves as the country’s second Red Sea port, after Jiddah, and is the main port for Medina, 100 miles (160 km) to the east. The economy of Yanbuʿ was traditionally based on the pilgrim trade and the export of agricultural products, especially dates. Its harbour is being enlarged and improved to ease the pressure on Jiddah, and the city is one terminus of three pipelines built in the 1980s for the delivery of petroleum and petroleum products to a major petrochemical complex at Yanbuʿ. The town has a small airfield and roads extending along the coast and eastward to Medina. Pop. (2004 prelim.) 188,430.