Alexandriaruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Ports, shipping & logistics
Alexandria Port Authority, Dekheila Port, container terminal operators and freight forwarders
Alexandria and Dekheila together handle the large majority of Egypt's foreign trade — commonly cited at around 60%. Shipping, customs clearance, freight and terminal operations are the city's defining commercial sector and hire in English.
Petrochemicals & refining
The Alexandria and Sidi Kerir petrochemical and refining complexes and their downstream plants
The industrial belt west of the city around Dekheila and Amreya is Egypt's petrochemical heartland, and a substantial technical employer for chemical, process and maintenance engineers.
Maritime education & research
Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport; Alexandria University's marine faculties
The Arab Academy is an Arab League institution and the region's leading maritime training body. It gives Alexandria a genuinely international academic sector oriented around the sea rather than around Cairo's ministries.
Higher education
Alexandria University, Pharos University, Alexandria's medical and engineering faculties
Alexandria University is one of Egypt's largest and oldest, with a very strong medical school. Academic and teaching-hospital posts are a common route into the city for foreign professionals.
Libraries, culture & heritage
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Graeco-Roman museums, the conservation and archaeology sector
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, opened in 2002 on the site of the ancient library, is a major research and cultural institution with international partnerships — an unusual employer for a city of this size, and a genuine intellectual centre of gravity.
Textiles, food processing & manufacturing
Long-established spinning and weaving firms, food processors, the Borg El Arab industrial zone
Alexandria has been an industrial city for a century and remains one. The Borg El Arab zone to the south-west carries much of the newer manufacturing investment, along with the city's second airport.
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