|
Venezuela Transportation
Venezuela possessed a relatively well-integrated
transportation network that far exceeded that of most its
South
American neighbors. Roads were the primary means of
transportation for both passengers and cargo, and the
country had
the highest percentage of paved highways in Latin America.
The
nation's extensive road network covered more than 76,600
kilometers in 1988, 34 percent of which was paved and 32
percent
gravel. The remaining 34 percent was dirt roads. The
southern
part of the country lacked a road network and was
generally not
accessible by land. Bountiful oil windfalls in the 1970s
allowed
the country to construct modern multilane highways to
serve its
growing automobile population, which exceeded 2.3 million
officially registered vehicles by 1986. The major
international
highways included the Colombian-Caribbean Highway on the
north
coast, which connected with the Pan-American Highway in
Colombia
via San Cristóbal and provided access to Brazil via Santa
Elena.
There was, however, no direct highway access to
neighboring
Guyana
(see
fig. 7). Approximately 55 percent of the
capital's
streets were paved, and other large cities displayed
similar
ratios. In addition to the comparatively high volume of
automobile traffic, numerous bus services also transported
11.5
million passengers in 1988.
The country's railroad system was not nearly as
extensive as
its road network, and many industrialists complained that
the
rail system was insufficient to support the burgeoning
mining
industry. Through 1990 railroads spanned only 400
kilometers,
carrying passengers and freight over two major routes. The
main
passenger route stretched from Barquisimeto to Puerto
Cabello.
This route also passed through the petrochemical complex
at
Morón. In 1988 the nation's trains, excluding the Caracas
subway,
carried 240,000 passengers. The second major rail line ran
through the heavy mining area south of Ciudad Guayana.
Caracas also boasted an extremely modern subway system
that
first opened in 1982. Installed by a French company and
managed
under private service contracts, the Caracas Metro (C.A.
Metro de
Caracas--Cametro) was clean, punctual, safe, and
financially
sound in the late 1980s. Many analysts pointed to the fact
that
Cametro's employees were not public servants, and
therefore not
subject to the political patronage system, as the main
reason for
its success relative to other Venezuelan public-service
companies. Construction of the Cametro system continued
through
1990, and new lines were expected to open.
Water transport on lakes, rivers, and seas was fairly
well
developed. The National Port Institute (Instituto Nacional
de
Puertos--INP) managed the nation's nine major commercial
ports,
and various government entities administered scores of
other
ports. INP's ports, located on the various types of
waterways,
were traditionally the central shipping facilities. The
growth of
heavy industry in the 1980s permitted CVG-supervised
ports, the
largest being Puerto Ordaz, to challenge INP because of
their
control of heavy minerals exports. Nevertheless, INP ports
still
handled 90 percent of general cargo and almost all
containerized
traffic. The port of La Guaira, located in metropolitan
Caracas,
was the most important INP port, followed by Puerto
Cabello and
Maracaibo. Other ports on the Caribbean coast and on Lago
de
Maracaibo were typically specialized ports that served a
particular industry.
Venezuelan ports--and INP ports in particular--suffered
from
extremely high costs, which were closely tied to the
strength of
the country's longshoremen's unions. A lack of
modernization and
expansion after the 1970s also contributed to low
efficiency. In
1990 the government contemplated increasing the role of
the
private sector in port management to expand port
development, a
measure that was likely to spark conflicts with organized
labor.
The Venezuelan Shipping Company and dozens of private
companies
provided merchant marine services, including oil tanker
service
worldwide.
Air transportation was commonplace in Venezuela, which
flew
nearly 15.7 million total passengers in 1988. Eleven
international airports served the nation, along with 36
domestic
airports and an estimated 290 private airstrips. The
Maiquetía
International Airport, located twenty-one kilometers
outside the
Federal District of Caracas, was the principal
international
airport, handling about 40 percent of all passengers, 84
percent
of air cargo, and as much as 90 percent of all
international
flights. The other leading international airports were
located in
Barcelona and Maracaibo. Venezuela International Airways
(Venezolana Internacional de Aviación S.A.--VIASA), the
government's international carrier, provided regular
flights to
the United States, the Caribbean, Europe, and South
America.
VIASA maintained a relatively good reputation and recorded
annual
profits through 1990. Two domestic carriers, the
state-owned
Venezuelan Airmail Line (Línea Aeropostal Venezolana--LAV)
and
the private Avensa corporation, furnished local air
service.
Beginning in the late 1980s, Avensa also flew a few
international
routes as well. Numerous air taxis flew to more remote
areas.
Twenty-seven international airlines flew regularly to
Venezuela.
Data as of December 1990
|
