Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

's undeveloped road system, with fewer than 100 miles of paved roads, consists mostly of dirt tracks suitable only for four-wheel-drive vehicles.''The Peace Corps Welcomes You to Vanuatu''
.

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...

(May 2007). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

. Every island has one or two short airstrips where

Vanair Vanair was a domestic airline based in Vanuatu. The airline flew to 29 destinations on 18 of Vanuatu's 83 islands, and was wholly owned by the Vanuatu government. History The airline commenced operations as Air Melanesiæ in 1965 as a joint ...

’s

Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...

planes land two or three times weekly. In addition, every island has a small port or wharf where small cargo ships and boats regularly dock. Vanuatu inter-island ferry

After arrival on an island, transportation is usually via pickup truck, foot, or small boat. Bicycles are becoming popular in Vanuatu. Port Vila and

Luganville Luganville is the second largest city in Vanuatu after the capital Port Vila; it is located on the island of Espiritu Santo and has a population of 18,062 as of the 2020 census. Those on Vanuatu's northern islands who regard Luganville as their bi ...

have numerous taxis and mass-transit vans. There are no railways in Vanuatu, although there was a small rail line on Efate during the colonial era.

CIA World Factbook ''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is available ...

Vanuatu's main harbors are Forari,

Port-Vila Port Vila (french: Port-Vila), or simply Vila (; french: Vila; bi, Vila ), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Vanuatu. It is located on the Efate, island of Efate. Its population in the last census (2009) was 44,040, an incre ...

, Santo (

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region o ...

Modes of transport

Highways:
''total:'' 1,070 km
''paved:'' 256 km
''unpaved:'' 814 km (1996 est.) Merchant marine:
''total:'' 78 ships (1,000 GT or over) totaling 1,266,634 GT/
''ships by type:'' bulk 27, cargo 24, chemical tanker 3, combination bulk 2, container 1, liquified gas 4, petroleum tanker 2, refrigerated cargo 9, vehicle carrier 6 (1999 est.)
''note:'' a

flag of convenience Flag of convenience (FOC) is a business practice whereby a ship's owners register a merchant ship in a ship register of a country other than that of the ship's owners, and the ship flies the civil ensign of that country, called the flag state ...

registry; includes ships from 15 countries among which are ships of Japan 28, India 10, US 10, Greece 3, Hong Kong 3, Australia 2, Canada 1, China 1, and France 1 (1998 est.) Airports: 32 (1999 est.) (See

Bauerfield International Airport Bauerfield International Airport (french: Aéroport International Bauerfield) is an airport located in Port Vila, Vanuatu. The airport is relatively small in size, but its runway has the capability and length to accept jets up to the Airbus A330. ...

.) Airports - with paved runways:
''total:'' 3
''2,438 to 3,047 m:'' 1
''1,524 to 2,437 m:'' 1
''914 to 1,523 m:'' 1 (1999 est.) Airports - with unpaved runways:
''total:'' 29
''1,524 to 2,437 m:'' 1
''914 to 1,523 m:'' 11
''under 914 m:'' 17 (1999 est.)

References

External links

{{Commons category, Transport in Vanuatu