Australia Transportation - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

National air transport system

number of registered air carriers: 25 (2020)

inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 583

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 75,667,645 (2018)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers: 2,027,640,000 (2018) mt-km

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

VH

Airports

total: 418 (2021)

Airports - with paved runways

total: 349

over 3,047 m: 11

2,438 to 3,047 m: 14

1,524 to 2,437 m: 155

914 to 1,523 m: 155

under 914 m: 14 (2021)

Airports - with unpaved runways

total: 131

1,524 to 2,437 m: 16

914 to 1,523 m: 101

under 914 m: 14 (2021)

Heliports

1 (2021)

Pipelines

637 km condensate/gas, 30,054 km gas, 240 km liquid petroleum gas, 3,609 km oil, 110 km oil/gas/water, 72 km refined products (2013)

Railways

total: 33,011 km (2015)

standard gauge: 17,446 km (2015) 1.435-m gauge (650 km electrified)

narrow gauge: 12,318 km (2015) 1.067-m gauge (2,075.5 km electrified)

broad gauge: 3,247 km (2015) 1.600-m gauge (372 km electrified)

Roadways

total: 873,573 km (2015)

urban: 145,928 km (2015)

non-urban: 727,645 km (2015)

Waterways

2,000 km (2011) (mainly used for recreation on Murray and Murray-Darling River systems)

Merchant marine

total: 581

by type: bulk carrier 2, general cargo 76, oil tanker 7, other 496 (2021)

Ports and terminals

major seaport(s):
Indian Ocean: Adelaide, Darwin, Fremantle, Geelong, Melbourne
Pacific Ocean: Brisbane, Cairns, Gladstone, Hobart, Newcastle, Port Port Kembla, Sydney

container port(s) (TEUs): Melbourne (2,967,315), Sydney (2,572,714) (2019)

LNG terminal(s) (export): Australia Pacific, Barrow Island, Burrup (Pluto), Curtis Island, Darwin, Karratha, Bladin Point (Ichthys), Gladstone, Prelude (offshore FLNG), Wheatstone

dry bulk cargo port(s): Dampier (iron ore), Dalrymple Bay (coal), Hay Point (coal), Port Hedland (iron ore), Port Walcott (iron ore)

Transportation - note

Australia operates one PC 3 or 4 class medium icebreaker based in Tasmania in support of operations in Antarctica
note - PC indicates a Polar Class vessel: PC 3 - year-round operation in second-year ice which may include multi-year ice inclusions (ice thickness up to 2.5 m); PC 4 - year-round operation in thick first-year ice which may include old ice inclusions (ice thickness up to 120 cm)

NOTE: The information regarding Australia on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Australia 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Australia 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.