Assab (or Aseb) is a port in Eritrea on the west coast of the Red Sea. In 1989 it had a population of 39,600. Assab possesses an oil refinery supplying local markets and Ethiopia. During the civil war and famine of the 1980s, food aid was brought to Eritrea and the Ethiopian province of Tigré through Assab.
Assab was formerly an Italian trading station. In 1880 it was taken over by the Italian government from a private company and used as a coal station for shipping. The port facilities were greatly expanded in the early 1990s, with the construction of the new terminal.
