Transport in Eritrea

AnEritrean AirlinesBoeing 767-366/ER aircraft. The national carrier is based inAsmara.

Transport in Eritreaincludeshighways,airportsandseaports,in addition to various forms of public and private vehicular, maritime and aerial transportation.

Railways

Main article:Eritrean Railway

This steam locomotive dating from the 1930s still operates, carrying both freight and tourists.

As of 1999, there was a total of 317 kilometres of950 mm(3 ft1+3⁄8in) (narrow gauge) rail line in Eritrea. The railway linksAgordatandAsmarawith the port ofMassawa;however, it was nonoperational since 1978 except for about a 5 kilometre stretch that was reopened in Massawa in 1994. Rehabilitation of the remainder and of the rolling stock has occurred in recent years. By 2003, the line had been restored from Massawa all the way through to Asmara.

There are no rail links with adjacent countries.

Highways

The Railway line Massawa-Asmara betweenGhindaandEmbatkalla.

The Eritrean highway system is named according to the road classification. The three levels of classification are: primary (P), secondary (S), and tertiary (T). The lowest level road is tertiary and serves local interests. Typically they are improved earth roads which are occasionally paved. During the wet seasons these roads typically become impassable. The next higher level road is a secondary road and typically is a single-layered asphalt road that connectsdistrictcapitals together and those to the regional capitals. Roads that are considered primary roads are those that are fully asphalted (throughout their entire length) and in general they carry traffic between all the major towns in Eritrea.

Primary Highways of Eritrea

Title	Start point	Intermediate point	End point	Road type
P-1	Asmara	Ghinda	Massawa	Asphalt
P-2	Asmara	Adi Tekelezan	Keren	Asphalt
P-3	Asmara	Adi Keyh	Senafe	Asphalt
P-4	Asmara	Mendefera	Mareb River (border with Ethiopia)	Asphalt
P-5	Keren	Barentu	Tesseney	Asphalt
P-6	Massawa	Tiyo	Asseb	Gravel
P-7	Asseb	n/a	Bure	Asphalt
P-8	Gahtelai	Shebah	She'eb	Asphalt
P-9	Serejeqa	n/a	Shebah	Gravel

total: 4,010 km
paved: 874 km
unpaved: 3,136 km (1996 est.)

Seaports and harbours

TheMassawaharbor/port was created by theItalians.

Red Sea

• Asseb(Aseb)
• Massawa(Mits'iwa)

Merchant marine

total: 5 ships (with a volume of 1,000gross tonnage(GT) or over) totaling 16,069GT/19,549 tonnesdeadweight(DWT)
ships by type: bulk carrier1,cargo ship1,liquefied gas1,petroleum tanker1,roll-on/roll-off ship1 (1999 est.)

Airports

There are three international airports, one in the capital,Asmara International Airport,and the two others in the coastal cities, Massawa (Massawa International Airport) and Assab (Assab International Airport). The airport inAsmarareceived all international flights into the country as of March 2007, as well as being the main airport for domestic flights.

21 (1999 est.)

Airports - with paved runways

See also:List of airports in Eritrea

ANasairEritreaBoeing 737-200aircraft at theAsmara International Airport.

Name	Length of the runway
Asmara	3,000 metres (9,800 ft)
Massawa	3,500 metres (11,500 ft)
Assab	3,515 metres (11,532 ft)

Airports - with unpaved runways

total: 18
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 6
914 to 1,523 m: 6
under 914 m: 2 (1999 est.)

Cableway

TheAsmara-Massawa Cableway,built byItalyin the 1930s, connected the port ofMassawawith the city ofAsmara.TheBritishlater dismantled it during their eleven-year occupation after defeating Italy inWorld War II.

See also

• Eritrea