Transport in Eritrea

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This article summarizes characteristics of a number of forms of transport in the coastal African nation of Eritrea.

1 Railways
- 1.1 Railway links with adjacent countries
2 Highways
3 Seaports and harbours
4 Merchant marine
5 Airports
- 5.1 Airports - with paved runways
- 5.2 Airports - with unpaved runways
6 References
7 See also

[edit] Railways

total: 317 km
narrow gauge: 317 km 0.950-m gauge (1999)
note: links Agordat and Asmara with the port of Massawa; nonoperational since 1978 except for about a 5 km stretch that was reopened in Massawa in 1994; rehabilitation of the remainder and of the rolling stock is under way... in 2003 the line from Massawa all the way through to Asmara has been restored.

[edit] Railway links with adjacent countries

Djibouti - no - break of gauge - 950mm/1000mm
Ethiopia - no - break of gauge - 950mm/1000mm
Sudan - no - break of gauge - 950mm/1067mm - defunct

[edit] Highways

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 connects district capitals 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^[1]
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	Gash River (border with Ethiopia)	Asphalt
P-5	Keren	Barentu	Tesseney	Asphalt
P-6	Massawa	Tio	Asseb	Gravel
P-7	Asseb	n/a	Bure	Asphalt

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

[edit] Seaports and harbours

Assab (Aseb), Massawa (Mits'iwa)

[edit] Merchant marine

total: 5 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 16,069 GRT/19,549 DWT
ships by type: bulk 1, cargo 1, liquefied gas 1, petroleum tanker 1, roll-on/roll-off 1 (1999 est.)

[edit] Airports

There are two major international airports, one in the capital, Asmara International Airport and another in one of the coastal cities, Massawa International Airport. The airport in Asmara receives all international flights into the country as well as being the main airport for domestic flights.

21 (1999 est.)