Strategic Umm Qasr port is vital to future of the town

THE port of Umm Qasr is not only strategic for the coalition forces attempting to oust Saddam Hussein, it is vital to the very future of the town.

The celebrations that could be heard as power was finally restored to homes yesterday morning were, in part, because it was a sign the town’s biggest employer may soon be running again.

Before the conflict, around 2,000 people worked on the docks, which British troops have compared in size to those of Gibraltar.