Transport in Papua New Guinea
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Transport in Papua New Guinea is in many cases heavily limited by the mountainous terrain. The capital, Port Moresby, is not linked by road to any of the other major towns and many highland villages can only be reached by light aircraft or on foot.

Some of the transport services are run by churches or church affiliated companies, such as Lutheran Shipping and Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Air Travel

Rural airstrip at Haia, Eastern Highlands Province

Air travel is the single most important form of transport in Papua New Guinea. Aeroplanes made it possible to open up the country during its early colonial period. Even today the two largest cities, Port Moresby and Lae, are only directly connected by planes.

Jacksons International Airport is the major international airport in Papua New Guinea, located 5 miles from Port Moresby.

Airports: 578 (2007 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 21
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 14
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 1 (2007 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 557
1,524 to 2,437 m: 10
914 to 1,523 m: 58
under 914 m: 489 (2007 est.)

Heliports: 2 (2007 est.)

Roadways

Rural PMV in the Eastern Highlands Province

As of 1999, Papua New Guinea has a total of 19,600 km of all weather highway, of which only 686 km is sealed. Where there are roads there are many privately operated Public Motor Vehicles (PMVs), mostly minivans, which function as unscheduled buses. In 2001, the Philippines government had given PNG several jeepney units for Papuan citizens to use.

The longest road in the country is the Highlands Highway which links Lae and Madang to the Highlands region. The Boluminski Highway links Kavieng and Namatanai in New Ireland Province. A highway linking Wewak in East Sepik Province and Vanimo in West Sepik Province was completed in September 2007.^[1] The Kiunga-Tabubil Highway is a privately maintained road that links highland communities in the Western Province.

Railways

Papua New Guinea has no major railways, but some mine sites have disused tracks. During the period of German colonial control at the start of the 20th century numerous plantation railways had been constructed in German New Guinea. These were built near the settlements of Madang and Rabaul.^[2] After the fall of German New Guinea to the Australians in the First World War the railways ran into disrepair.

2007

In September 2007 a mining company has proposed to build a new railway to link the coast with a copper-molybdenum at Yandera^[3] mine in Madang province.^[4]

Waterways and Ports

Water taxis at Kokopo, East New Britain

In coastal locations small "banana boat" dinghies provide a local transport service similar to the PMVs.

The country has 10,940 km of waterways.

Ports and harbors: Port Moresby, Lae, Madang, Buka, Rabaul/Kokopo, Kiunga

Merchant marine:
total: 21 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 36,417 GRT/52,432 metric tons of deadweight (DWT)
ships by type: bulk 2, cargo 10, chemical tanker 1, combination ore/oil 1, container 1, petroleum tanker 3, roll-on/roll-off 3 (1999 est.)

See also

Papua New Guinea
List of airports in Papua New Guinea

References

v • d • e Transport in Oceania Australasia Australia · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands · New Zealand1 · Norfolk Island Melanesia East Timor2 · Fiji · New Caledonia · Papua New Guinea3 · Solomon Islands · Vanuatu Micronesia Federated States of Micronesia · Guam · Kiribati · Marshall Islands · Nauru · Northern Mariana Islands · Palau Polynesia American Samoa · Cook Islands · French Polynesia · Hawaii · Niue · Pitcairn Islands · Samoa · Tokelau · Tonga · Tuvalu · Wallis and Futuna 1 Often included in Polynesia.  2 Often included in Southeast Asia.  3 Often included in Australasia.