Find Freight, Shipping and Logistics expertise in Papua New Guinea

Freight and shipping of goods and cargo primarily takes place to, from and within Papua New Guinea via air and water, as the rugged terrain makes transport via land a more challenging option.

The European Commission estimates that in 2010 exports of oil, gold, copper ore, logs, palm oil, coffee, coco and seafood to Australia, Japan and EU were worth €7.5 billion. Imports from Australia, Singapore and China consisting of machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, food, fuels and chemicals had a value of €3.7 billion in the same year.

There are 562 airports in the country of which 20 have paved runways and two heliports. The largest airport in the country is Jacksons International Airport at Port Moseby which is an important point for international airfreight services. Transport overland is difficult and there are 9,349 km of roadway of which the majority is unpaved. Waterways, of which there are 11,000 km provide more practical routes for transport of goods and people.

There are regular coastal freight services in Papua New Guinea provided by both local and overseas operators. The larger ports capable of handling big shipments are Lae and Madang, though smaller vessels service the more remote regions in many modified landing barges. All ports int he country are overseen by the PNG Ports Corporation. Papua New Guinea has 31 merchant marine vessels consisting of bulk carriers, cargo vessels and petroleum tankers.

Lae Port offers a range of facilities including cranes and forklifts, bulk handling machines and undercover (12,600s sq meters) and open storage (39,000square meters). There are tanker berths 100m in length and 13m in depth as well as oil, gas and water supplies. In addition, Lea Port boasts a dry dock facility, stevedore services and roll on/roll off and passenger handling services.

International sea-freight connections to and from Asia, Australia and several other Pacific island ports in the region are provided by various companies. Heavylift Cargo Airlines and Pacific Air Express, which came on the scene in 2010, are notable players.

The World Bank Logistics Performance Index (LPI) scores countries on various aspects involved with shipping and logistics on a scale of one to five with five being the highest. Papua New Guinea scored 2.38 (2012), placing it slightly below the score for both the East Asian and Pacific group (2.84) and the lower middle income group (2.55) and in 128^th place out of 155 countries in overall LPI.

Global leaders in freight forwarding, courier and logistics services DHL, Fedex, TNT and UPS (represented in the country by Express Freight Management) all operate in Papua New Guinea alongside local firms.

The World Bank Logistics Performance Index (LPI) scores countries on various aspects involved with shipping and logistics on a scale of one to five with five being the highest. Papua New Guinea ranks in the top 100 for timeliness (95^th) out of 155 countries. It ranks lower in terms of customs (145^th), infrastructure (126^th), shipment (131^st), logistics (135^th) and tracking (106^th).