Transport in Somalia includes a network of highways, and several ports. There are now no railways in Somalia, and the country possesses no merchant marine.
In 1989, before the collapse of the government, the national airline had only one airplane. Now there are approximately fifteen airlines, over sixty aircraft, six international destinations, and more domestic routes in Somalia. Private airlines, such as Daallo Airlines, serve domestic locations as well as Djibouti and the United Arab Emirates. According to a 2005 World Bank report, the "private airline business in Somalia is now thriving with more than five carriers and price wars between the companies."[1]
Following exponential growth since 1991, Bosaso is the main port today. At nearly 3 million head of goat and sheep in 1999, the northern ports of Bosaso and Berbera accounted for 95 percent of all goat and 52 percent of all sheep exports of East Africa.[2]
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A 114 km railway between Mogadishu and Jawhar, built by the Italians in the 1910s, was dismantled by the British in the 1940s. The gauge was 950 mm (3 ft 1 3⁄8 in).
Somalia's network of highways is 22,100 km long, 2,608 km of which are paved all weather roads and 2900 km are gravel roads.[3] The percentage of roads that have been paved and maintained by Somalis during the civil war period is the same as of that of Kenya and Ethiopia, and much higher than in Tanzania.
15 km of pipeline in Somalia carries crude oil.
Major ports include Bosaso, Berbera, Kismayo, Merka and Mogadishu. Somalia does not possess a merchant marine although until the loss of government in the 1990s vessels were registered under a Somali flag of convenience.[4]
Somalia has 65 landing grounds. Of the seven with paved runways, four have runways longer than 10,000ft (3,000m). The unpaved runways are typically from 3000ft (900m) to 5000ft (1500m) long.
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