Buyers usually specify the crop, the grade and the Incoterm, then leave the port of loading to the exporter. That is often reasonable, but on reefer produce the choice of port changes inland transit time, reefer plug availability, the shipping lines you can access and, in some lanes, three or four days of total transit. Four Egyptian ports handle almost all fresh and frozen produce exports. Each suits a different destination and a different growing region.

Alexandria

Alexandria is the default for produce grown in the Delta and the western reclamation belt, which covers most citrus, potato, onion and grape volume. Inland haulage from the Nubaria and Beheira packhouses runs 60 to 120 km, meaning fruit can be pre-cooled, stuffed and gated in on the same day. The port has the deepest liner coverage to Northern Europe and the Western Mediterranean, with weekly or better sailings to Rotterdam, Antwerp, Valencia and Genoa. The trade-off is congestion. Alexandria is the busiest of the four for general cargo and gate queues at peak citrus season can add half a day.

Damietta

Damietta sits at the eastern edge of the Delta and serves the Sharqia, Ismailia and Dakahlia growing areas, which matters for mango, guava and much of the eastern vegetable production. It is generally faster through the gate than Alexandria and has good reefer plug capacity. Liner coverage is strong to the Eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea and Turkey, and it is the usual choice for Russian and Eastern European programmes. Coverage to the Gulf is thinner and often involves transhipment.

Port Said East

Port Said East, at the northern mouth of the Suez Canal, is a transhipment hub rather than a regional gateway. Its value is connectivity. Because the main east-west services call there, a container loaded at Port Said can reach South and Southeast Asian destinations without a European transhipment. Inland haulage from the Delta is longer than to Damietta, typically 150 to 250 km, so the crop needs to tolerate an extra road leg. For high value long-transit fruit destined for India, Bangladesh or Malaysia, the saving in sea days usually outweighs the extra road hours.

Ain Sokhna

Ain Sokhna is the only one of the four on the Red Sea, which removes the canal transit for cargo heading to the Gulf, the Indian subcontinent and East Africa. Sailings to Jebel Ali, Jeddah, Dammam and Doha are the shortest available from Egypt, commonly 5 to 9 days. Inland haulage from the Delta is the longest of the four at 200 to 300 km, and reefer plug capacity is smaller than at Alexandria, so bookings need to be placed earlier.

Choosing in practice

For EU and UK programmes, load Alexandria unless the crop originates in the east. For Russia, Turkey and the Black Sea, load Damietta. For the GCC, load Sokhna where a direct service exists and Alexandria where it does not. For South and Southeast Asia, compare Port Said East against a Sokhna direct service on total door-to-door days rather than on freight rate alone.

Whichever port is chosen, the booking discipline is the same. Reefer allocation on the main lanes tightens sharply once the citrus season opens, and the practical lead times are set out in our guide to booking reefer space for the 2026/2027 citrus season. Gross weight also differs in practice by port because road weight limits on the inland leg vary, so confirm the payload plan against the rules in our note on container weight and VGM on Egyptian produce exports before finalising a carton count.

PEI Trade loads from all four ports and will recommend the one that fits your destination, crop and Incoterms 2020 arrangement. Send your destination port, product and target shipping week to our export desk on WhatsApp at +20 10 9911 1918 and we will confirm the routing, the realistic transit and the next available reefer position.