Transportation in Ecuador is the transport infrastructure networks in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and those connecting the country with other countries. Transportation in Ecuador include aviation, highways, pipelines, ports and harbors, railways and waterways. Apart from transporting passengers, the country is a relatively small exporter of fruits and vegetables such as banana, papayas and pineapples.

Aviation

National airlines

Avianca Avianca S.A. (acronym in Spanish for ''Aerovias de Colombia S.A.'', "Airways of Colombia", and stylized as avianca since October 2023) is the largest airline in Colombia. It has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919, when it ...

LATAM Airlines LATAM Airlines Chile, formerly known as LAN Chile and LAN Airlines, is a Chilean multinational airline based in Santiago and one of the founding companies of the LATAM Airlines Group, the largest airline holding company in Latin America. Its ...

Airports

345 (2025)

Airports (paved)

*''total:'' 317 (2025) **''over 3,047 m:'' 3 (2010) **''2,438 to 3,047 m:'' 4 (2010) **''1,524 to 2,437 m:'' 19 (2010) **''914 to 1,523 m:'' 29 (2010) **''under 914 m:'' 43 (2010)

Airports (unpaved)

:''total:'' 261 :''914 to 1,523 m:''33 :''under 914 m:''228

Heliports

28 (2025)

Highways

*''total:'' **''paved:'' **''unpaved:'' (2004 est.) The Sierra Region still plays an important role in transportation throughout the country. The

Pan-American Highway The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. I ...

crosses it from north to south. Ecuador has managed to update some roads into four-lane freeways: *

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

– Alpichacas. Length: 33 km. *

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

ring-road. Length: 46 km. *

– Taura. Length: 30 km. *

– Cerro Blanco. Length: 27 km. *

Machala Machala () is a city in south-west Ecuador. It is the capital of the El Oro Province, and is located near the Gulf of Guayaquil on fertility (soil), fertile lowlands. Machala has a population of 288,072 (2022 census); it is the sixth-biggest city ...

– Pasaje. Length: 23 km.

Bus transport

Ecuador has a variety of

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

services. The general types of service include: * luxury buses — ''autobús de lujo'', which travel the main routes between cities. * standard buses — these travel more local routes and will stop for any passengers that hails them. *

minibus A minibus, microbus, or minicoach is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the word "minibus" is us ...

es — ''busetas'' which service the outer fringes of the bus networks * ''rancheras'' —

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

s which have been converted to buses by adding wooden benches. These service the poorer, rural areas, along with ''camionetas'', which are converted

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a Truck_classification#Table_of_US_GVWR_classifications, light or medium duty truck that has an enclosed cabin (truck), cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (th ...

s. In the capital,

, boarding platforms are used to put passengers at the same level as the entrance to the bus.

Pipelines

* 485 km extra heavy crude, * 123 km gas, * 2,131 km oil, * 1,526 km refined products (2025)

Ports and harbors

Ecuador has: * 6 total ports (2024) ** 0 large ** 0 medium ** 2 small ** 4 very small ** 5 ports with oil terminals ** key ports: Esmeraldas, Guayaquil, La Libertad, Manta, Puerto Bolivar, Puerto Maritimo de Guayaquil

Pacific Ocean

* Esmeraldas *

, La Libertad *

Manta Manta or mantas may refer to: * Manta ray, large fish belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' Arts and entertainment App & Website * Manta (platform), a Korean digital comics provider Fictional entities * Manta (comics), a character in American Marve ...

Puerto Bolívar Puerto Bolívar is an Parishes of Ecuador, urban parish and port city, part of the municipality of Machala, El Oro Province, Ecuador. Puerto Bolívar is one of the world's largest shipment points for bananas, most of them destined for Europe; ab ...

* San Lorenzo

Merchant marine

* total: 31 ships ( or over) totaling / *ships by type: (2006 est.) **

Chemical tanker A chemical tanker is a type of tanker (ship), tanker ship designed to transport chemicals in bulk. As defined in MARPOL Annex II, chemical tanker means a ship constructed or adapted for carrying in bulk any liquid product listed in chapter 17 o ...

1 ** gas carrying tanker 1 ** Passenger ships 7 ** Petroleum tankers 21 ** Specialized tanker 1 *Foreign-owned: 2 ** Norway 1 ** Paraguay 1 * Registered in other countries 1 ** Georgia 1

Railways

''Total:'' 812 km (single track)
''

Narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

:'' 812 km of gauge. All services ceased in 2020.

Proposals

There is a proposed rail connection with

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. On 5 July 2008, a meeting took place between

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

and Ecuador regarding a railway for freight and passengers to link the three countries, and linking the Pacific with the Atlantic also. There is no railway service to

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Metro services

In 2020, the Cuenca Tramway (Tranvía Cuenca), the first modern rail transit line in Ecuador, opened for service. The Quito Metro initiated its commercial operations on 1 December 2023.