Paraguay's transportation system ranges from adequate to poor, largely depending on the region of the country. The country has a network of roads, railroads, rivers, and airports, but significant infrastructure and regulation improvements are needed.Paraguay country profile

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

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(October 2005). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired ...

.''

Roads

Estimates vary on the total extent of Paraguay's road system, from more than to less than . The discrepancies seem to be the result of differing standards regarding what constitutes a road. Thousands of kilometers of unpaved rural roads exist. Paraguay has about of paved, major feeder roads. The core network connects

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...

, Encarnación, and

Ciudad del Este Ciudad del Este (, Spanish for Eastern City; often shortered as CDE) is the second-largest city in Paraguay and capital of the Alto Paraná Department, situated on the Paraná River. It is located 327 km from Asunción, the capital, and is ...

, on the border with Brazil, where it connects later with the Port of Paranaguá. In July 2023, the first duplicated highway in Paraguay was being created on the stretch of PY-02 closest to Asunción, and there were already duplicated. The Trans-Chaco highway is only partially finished, the paved portion ending at Mariscal Estigarribia.

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

s portion of the highway, in contrast, is entirely paved. For trade purposes, the paved highways from Ciudad del Este to the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian port of

Paranaguá Paranaguá (''Great Round Sea'', in Tupi) is a city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. Founded in 1648, it is Paraná's oldest city. It is known for the Port of Paranaguá, which serves as both the sea link for Curitiba, to the west and the ca ...

are particularly important. Additionally, the roads connecting Paraguay to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

are adequate. Route 15 has been one of the central points in the country's road advancement. This highway (currently under construction) is expected to become an international logistics center by becoming part of the Bi-Oceanic Corridor, and being the shortest passage between the Chilean ports of

Antofagasta Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669. After the Spanish American wars ...

and

Iquique Iquique () is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the Atacama Desert. It has a population of 191, ...

on the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

and the Brazilian port of Santos on the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. In February 2022, Paraguay inaugurated 275 km of the road (about half of the route), connecting Carmelo Peralta (Alto Paraguay), on the border with Brazil, to Loma Plata (Boquerón), in the center of the country. ''* Estimated''
''Source:''Organización Administrativa y Sistemas de Gestión del Mantenimiento
Dirección de Vialidad de Chile (November 1997).

Railways

The government owns the country's sole railroad company, including a line from Asunción to Encarnación. An effort to privatize the company in 2002 failed when no buyer could be secured because of the steep investment required to make the line profitable. Currently, only a small section of the line is open. It is used for tourist traffic. Paraguay's railroads operate on a standard 1.435-meter gauge. The total length of rail in Paraguay is . of that is standard gauge at . Another is

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

at , and of the total railway is privately owned.

Inland waterways

Paraguay has of inland waterways. The

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

and Paraná are the country's two main rivers. The Paraguay River, with headwaters at Mato Grosso, Brazil, flows southward, converging with the Paraná in southwestern Paraguay, and then flowing to the

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...

estuary in Argentina, the entrance for the great majority of ships servicing Paraguay's ports.

Ports and harbors

Villeta Villeta is a city of Paraguay in the Central Department, on the banks of Paraguay River. It is an important industrial center and port. Toponymy The city was founded on March 5, 1714, by Juan Gregorio Bazán de Pedraza, with the original name ...

, located on the

Paraguay River The Paraguay River (Río Paraguay in Spanish, Rio Paraguai in Portuguese, Ysyry Paraguái in Guarani) is a major river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. It flows about from its headwaters i ...

south of Asunción, serves as Paraguay's primary port.

, long the country's only modern port, Encarnación (on the Paraná River), and

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

serve as the country's other major ports. Paraguay's ports are split between state and private ownership. The country's twenty private ports, however, are far more efficient, handling nearly 90% of soybean exports.

Merchant marine

''Total'': 110 ''Container ship'': 3 ''General cargo'': 25 ''Oil tanker'': 5 ''Other'': 77 (2021)

Airports

Aeropuerto Internacional Silvio Pettirossi International Airport

As of 2013, Paraguay has 799 airports but only 15 with paved runways. The airport serving Asunción,

Silvio Pettirossi International Airport Silvio Pettirossi International Airport is an international airport in Luque, Paraguay, which serves Paraguay's capital city, Asunción, and indirectly serves the nearby city of Clorinda, Formosa in Argentina. The airport is named after Paraguay ...

, is the country's major airport for international and domestic flights. Another airport is

Guaraní International Airport Guaraní International Airport is an international airport located in the municipality of Minga Guazú, and serving Ciudad del Este. It is the second most important and international airport in Paraguay. History The airport was dedicated on 20 ...

, located near

and the Brazilian border, but it has been unable to compete with the nearby international airport at Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil. Improvements in technology are needed to bring Paraguay's airports up to international standards. Paraguay privatized the state-owned

Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas LAP - Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas (also referred as ''LAP'' and later LAPSA Air Paraguay) was a Paraguayan airline that was founded in November 1962 to be the flag carrier airline of Paraguay. Its main hub was Silvio Pettirossi International Airp ...

in 1994.

References

External links

* {{National Roads in Paraguay