(formerly Port-Etienne), a port city in Mauritania, on Lévrier Bay; capital of the eighth administrative region. Population, 11,000 (1970).
Nouadhibou is the center of Mauritania’s fishing industry; its four modern fish-processing plants and two more traditional enterprises handled more than 60,000 tons of fish in 1972. The city also has an oxyacetylene plant, a shipyard, and a thermal electric power plant. There is an international airport nearby. The ore port of Cansado is located 10 km south of Nouadhibou’s port. Both ports together handle more than 9 million tons of freight a year. Cansado is linked by rail with the iron ore deposits at Kediet Ijill.