No one can determine when man started to use the Nile for river navigation purposes. However, we can say that people in Sudan used the Nile for trading purposes during the period 1700 - 2000 BC.
The first step taken towards using steamers in Sudan was in 1820 when Ismail Pasha got his forces ready to invade Dongola. Yet, the history of modern river transport started in the era of Khedive Mohamed Saeed who sent six steamers to Sudan.
Then came Gordon Pasha who had established a first workshop at Al-Shaygia area in 1884, and in 1973, the River Transport Corporation was established to assume the task of promoting this sector.

The new units of the corporation came into service since 1976 and by 1984 the corporation succeeded in setting up a highly qualified fleet for passengers and goods. By using this fleet, the corporation was able to transport 157,000 - 151,000 tons in 1981/82/83 and due to the security conditions, river navigation stopped for so long.
Sudan is a wide and vast country. So river transport is considered one of the most important pillars of Sudanese economy. What is more is that it is less expensive than other kinds of transport, especially the transport of bulky goods such as crops, wood and oil for long distances. Therefore, we find that all countries enjoying river navigation routes use them in transporting goods and passengers.

In 1992, a decree was issued that the River Transport Corporation be dissolved due to the heavy losses incurred.
Yet the corporation's staff stood against this decree, stressing their readiness to improve working conditions among the employees by exerting efforts to rehabilitate the corporation so that it becomes a profitable institution, such being the case, the president of the republic cancelled the decree as a new era dawned upon this vital utility which is regarded as a great challenge.
A plan to promote work within the corporation was hence worked out starting by rehabilitating all inoperative steamers to enter service. Furthermore, the number of barges increased to 50 with a capacity of 500 tons as there are other barges used for carrying goods with a capacity of 1,000 tons.

The River Transport Corporation has a number of workshops which work towards maintenance of steamers and manufacture of spare parts in addition to further secondary workshops and a foundry.
As we mentioned before the role being played by river transport at this juncture of our history is not only of economic nature, but also it links the north of the country with the south.
It is involved in transporting consumer goods and development requirements to the southern region as well as transferring its products to the north.
The River Transport Corporation undertakes the task of transporting passengers, goods, fuel and services on the 1436-km-long White Nile Kosti-Juba route through the whole year, on Khartoum-Kosti as dictated by necessity, on Al-Sobat River, Malakal-Al-Nasir-Gambiela (570 km long), seasonally on the Blue Nile, on the 210-km-long Al-Souki-AlRusseiris line and during the flood season on the River Nile.

River navigation is expected to be used on Khartoum-Shendi-Atbara line to transport crops and cement in the near future.
The Corporation is fully ready to step up the number of its journeys to keep pace with the commercial activity. It launches three journeys to Juba town, carrying more that 12,000 tons of goods loaded in 33 barges as there is also a reserve of goods utilized for improving the living conditions of the citizens in the area.
Some goods are transferred to West Equatoria State and Jonglei besides the transference of over 800 workers from Malakal to Bor instead of using planes in the process, thus saving a huge sum of money for the country with a reduction of 15%. To boost agricultural economy, the Corporation designed two steamers to transport pumps for Kieli Agricultural project financed by the Irrigation Ministry as work is now underway to prepare two steamers for oil transportation project.
The Corporation employs some of its fleet units in tourism to promote this sector in the country. It carried out maintenance work on six river buses, furnishing new engines to them.
The Corporation further conducted river journeys and increased capital for building hotels and tourist restaurants on the Nile bank.

As regards to the working staff, the Corporation attaches serious concern to this issue as it started training and qualifying its employees to raise their competence, besides training courses for employees of other corporations and practical experience provided for university students at the corporation's workshops.
There were some obstacles facing the river transport in Sudan top of which was the security conditions in the south.
Other obstacles hampering river transport include weeds, rock and waterfalls which represent a real problem to navigation as they need special machinery.
There is also a problem related to the provision of spare parts which are imported from abroad and which cannot be manufactured by workshops in Sudan, such spare parts have to be used carefully so that the fleet can operate in full capacity.

The river transport corporation now owns the largest river fleet in Africa which is composed of big carriers, with 2000 ton capacity, in addition to the barges meant for transporting goods and oil as well as the new passenger steamers. This river fleet was constructed by the main workshop of the river transport corporation in Khartoum. Efforts are still being exerted to utilize all navigation routes in the country which are estimated at about 5,000 km so that this sector can effectively contribute to transporting crops and raw materials in the near future.

1. Rehabilitation of a total of 35 vessels of the Corporation.
2. Rehabilitation of Al-Rajaf steamer and Al-Nuzha to operate in the field of tourism.
3. Maintaining 14 ferry boats.
4. Rehabilitating three barges, completing work on Mugrat-Abu-Hamad bridge project and building 22 ferry boats for the new provinces.
5. Launching two journeys monthly between Kosti and Malakal, six seasonal journeys between Kosti and Al-Renk, two seasonal others between Malakal and Al-Nasir, besides six annual journeys between Kosti and Juba.

1. Rehabitilation of river ports in Kosti, Malakal and Juba.
2. Improving and expanding the navigation route.
3. Rehabilitating the river fleet.
4. Restructuring the river transport corporation.

The Mechanical Transport Corporation undertakes the purchasing of vehicles for government departments and institutions, besides its services provided in maintaining cars at its main workshops in Khartoum North. the number of the corporation's units reaches 37 nationwide. The workshop owns a fleet composed of 367 saloon cars, 630 pickups and 262 buses distributed among administrations and ministries. the corporation also assumes supervision of trucks