Australia Transportation - 2024

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

2,180 (2024)

Heliports

368 (2024)

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: 32,606 km (2022) 3,448 km electrified

standard gauge: 18,007 km (2022) 1.435 mm

narrow gauge: 11,914 km (2022) 1.067 mm

broad gauge: 2,685 km (2022) 1.600 mm

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: 604 (2023)

by type: bulk carrier 2, general cargo 76, oil tanker 6, other 520

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 (2,909,288), Sydney (2,761,648) (2021)

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)