Eritrean Airlines Boeing 767-300ER E3-AAO FCO 2005-6-7

Transport in Eritrea includes

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-acces ...

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

s and

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

s, in addition to various forms of public and private vehicular, maritime and aerial transportation.

Railways

As of 1999, there was a total of 317 kilometres of (

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

) rail line in Eritrea. The railway links

Agordat Agordat; also Akordat or Ak'ordat) is a city in Gash-Barka, Eritrea. It was the capital of the former Barka province, which was situated between the present-day Gash-Barka and Anseba regions. History Excavations in Agordat uncovered pottery r ...

and Asmara with the port of Massawa; 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 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 A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

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

Seaports and harbours

Red Sea

Asseb Assab or Aseb (, ) is a port city in the Southern Red Sea Region of Eritrea. It is situated on the west coast of the Red Sea. Languages spoken in Assab are predominantly Afar, Tigrinya, and Arabic. Assab is known for its large market, beaches ...

(Aseb) * Massawa (Mits'iwa)

Merchant marine

''total:'' 5 ships (with a volume of or over) totaling /
''ships by type:''

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, eco ...

1, cargo ship 1,

liquefied gas Liquefied gas (sometimes referred to as liquid gas) is a gas that has been turned into a liquid by cooling or compressing it. Examples of liquefied gases include liquid air, liquefied natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas. Liquid air At the ...

1, petroleum tanker 1, roll-on/roll-off ship 1 (1999 est.)

Airports

There are three international airports, one in the capital,

Asmara International Airport Asmara International Airport, , is the international airport of Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. It is the country's largest airport and, as of 2017, the only one receiving regularly scheduled services. History The airport was constructed by th ...

, and the two others in the coastal cities, Massawa (

Massawa International Airport Massawa International Airport is an airport in Massawa, a major city in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea. It is considered to be the successor of the Otumlo Airport, also in Massawa, which was destroyed in 1941. Overview The Massawa Inte ...

) and Assab ( Assab International Airport). The airport in Asmara received 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

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

The

Asmara-Massawa Cableway The Asmara-Massawa Cableway was a cableway (or "ropeway") built in Italian Eritrea before World War II.The Eritrean Ropeway, completed in 1937, ran 71.8 km from the south end of Asmara to the city-port of Massawa. History The cableway was built ...

, built by

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in the 1930s, connected the port of Massawa with the city of Asmara. The

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

later dismantled it during their eleven-year occupation after defeating Italy in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...