The Salt Works
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This article on the important salt industry in Aden describes the situation as it was at the beginning of 1951. By far the oldest of Aden’s salt works was the Aden Salt Works, also known as the Italian Salt Works. A 99 year lease of 642 acres was granted on 1 January 1886. All subsequent leases by this and the other companies were to be for 30 years. This was also to be the only rent-free lease.
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From the start, however, the Aden Salt Works had to pay royalties of 8 Annas per ton. A further 240 acres was leased in 1909, the 30 year lease being renewed in 1939. For this land extension the company had to pay an annual rent of 1690 Rupees.
At the 1939 renewal the Government took the opportunity to impose a surcharge of 7 Rupees on every 55 tons exported over 55,000 tons in any 12 month period commencing in June each year.
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It is really not surprising that these first salt works were run by Italians. It was a family run business, with the owners living in Trapani in Sicily – no doubt when they established their business they based the set-up on that at their salt works between Marsala and Trapani, including the use of windmills to pump the salt water into the pans. The renewal of the 240 acre lease was completed literally only a day or two before Great Britain and Italy went to war in June 1940. The 14 Italian employees were interned and after the war they did not return to Aden.
The salt pans painted a picturesque scene, the majestic windmills with their broad canvas sails spread on broad wooden lattice frames, reflected in the shimmering azure water. The windmills would later be replaced with pumps, driven by small engines, located in rather unattractive tin sheds.
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An aqueduct carried sea-water from the pumping-station of the salt works to the most inland of pans where the first stage of evaporation was carried out. It was then pumped from one series of pans to another, becoming stronger brine at each stage, until the salt at last crystallized out in the pans round the salt works. When the evaporation process was complete the salt was collected in metal buckets. The metal buckets were hand-carried to the conveyor belt which raised the flow of salt to the top of the pile. The piles were next to the ‘railhead’.
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At the outbreak of WWII the salt works were taken over by the Custodian of Enemy Property and a manager, Mr Pericles Mavroudis was appointed to run the business. It was only handed back to the Italians on 1 June 1949. The firm had made a profit in six of the nine years, the net amount being £150,000.
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Mr Mavroudis was given a bonus of ½% of the profits whilst he had been in control. The rest was paid to the 23 family directors in Trapani, with some of the money going as compensation to the 14 Italian staff who had been interned, many of whom had worked in Aden for many years.
As previously mentioned, the oldest of the salt works was the Aden Salt Works. The next oldest company was the Indo-Aden Salt Manufacturing & Trading Co Ltd, which in November 1908 was granted a 30 year lease on 907 acres. The Indo-Aden had to pay the same royalties (as did all the companies), but from the outset there was an annual rental of 7,000 Rupees. At the renewal of the lease in 1938 the same surcharge was applied for exports over 55,000 tons, but with an accounting year starting in November.
The third company was the United Salt Works & Industries Ltd. This was an amalgamation of the Hajeebhoy Aden Salt Works Ltd and the Kutch Salt Works, the former having taken over the latter in 1941, which is when the name of the company was changed. The Hajeebhoy had taken out a 30 year lease in July 1922 on 860 acres, with a further lease on 86 acres in May 1928.
Their rental was 8,000 Rupees on the first lease and 770 on the second. When the first lease was renewed in 1952 the United Salt Works would become liable to the same surcharge on annual exports as those paid by the other two companies mentioned above. On the renewal date United was also hoping to negotiate a lease of an additional 289 acres.
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The youngest of the four companies was the Little Aden Salt Industries Co Ltd. Their 30-year lease on 1600 acres at Bureika was from May 1923, for which the rental was 7,000 Rupees a year. At the renewal of their lease the Little Aden Salt Works would also became liable for the surcharge. They also were hoping to expand by taking out a lease on an additional 252 acres. In 1959 the business was being managed by Mr. H.N. Pandya.
When the salt monopoly ended in Ethiopia in May 1941 it provided an opportunity for Antonin Besse. He shipped some salt from Aden in his own dhows but later most of the salt came from African deposits. Besse had considered buying the Aden Salt Works but he decided not to proceed.
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The Table below shows the exports in tons of the four companies for the four years 1947-1950, the figures having been rounded down to the nearest 1000 tons. Most of the salt exported was being shipped to India.
The two tables below show the total tonnage of salt exported from 1953 to 1956 and the export destination.
