Colombia Transportation - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

National air transport system

number of registered air carriers: 12 (2020)

inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 157

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 33,704,037 (2018)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers: 1,349,450,000 (2018) mt-km

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

HJ, HK

Airports

836 (2021)

Airports - with paved runways

121

note: paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)

Airports - with unpaved runways

715

note: unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control

Heliports

3 (2021)

Pipelines

4,991 km gas, 6,796 km oil, 3,429 km refined products (2013)

Railways

total: 2,141 km (2019)

standard gauge: 150 km (2019) 1.435-m gauge

narrow gauge: 1,991 km (2019) 0.914-m gauge

Roadways

total: 205,379 km (2019)

Waterways

24,725 km (2019) (18,225 km navigable; the most important waterway, the River Magdalena, of which 1,092 km is navigable, is dredged regularly to ensure safe passage of cargo vessels and container barges)

Merchant marine

total: 148

by type: general cargo 28, oil tanker 12, other 108 (2022)

Ports and terminals

major seaport(s): Atlantic Ocean (Caribbean) - Cartagena, Santa Marta, Turbo
Pacific Ocean - Buenaventura

oil terminal(s): Covenas offshore terminal

container port(s) (TEUs): Buenaventura (1,082,746), Cartagena (3,343,810) (2021)

river port(s): Barranquilla (Rio Magdalena)

dry bulk cargo port(s): Puerto Bolivar (coal)

Pacific Ocean - Buenaventura

NOTE: The information regarding Colombia on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Colombia 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Colombia 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.