UN/LOCODE explained

UN/LOCODE, the United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations, is a geographic coding scheme developed and maintained by United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). UN/LOCODE assigns codes to locations used in trade and transport with functions such as seaports, rail and road terminals, airports, Postal Exchange Office and border crossing points. The first issue in 1981 contained codes for 8,000 locations. The version from 2011 contained codes for about 82,000 locations.

Structure

UN/LOCODEs have five characters. The first two letters code a country by the table defined in ISO 3166-1 alpha-2. The three remaining characters code a location within that country. Letters are preferred, but if necessary digits 2 through 9 may be used, excluding "0" and "1" to avoid confusion with the letters "O" and "I" respectively.

For each country there can be a maximum of 17,576 entries using only letters (26×26×26), or 39,304 entries using letters and digits (34×34×34).

For the US, the letter combinations have almost all been exhausted. So in 2006, the Secretariat added 646 entries with a digit as the last character.

Loose consistency with existing IATA airport codes

For airports, the three letters following the country code are not always identical to the IATA airport code. According to the Secretariat note for Issue 2006-2, there are 720 locations showing a different IATA code.

Official UN/LOCODE tables

UN/LOCODEs are released as a table. An individual revision is officially referred to as an "issue". A discussion of the table's structure follows.

Examples

Example of locations as shown in Issue 2006-2^[1]

Ch	LOCODE	Name	NameWoDiacritics	SubDiv	Function	Status	Date	IATA	Coordinates	Remarks
	US NYC	New York	New York	NY		AI	0401		4042N 07400W
	DE BER	Berlin	Berlin	BE		AF	0207		5231N 01323E
	DE TXL	Berlin-Tegel Apt	Berlin-Tegel Apt	BE		AF	9501
	FR PAR	Paris	Paris	75		AF	9501
	GB PAR	Par	Par	CON		AF	9501
	SE GOT	Göteborg	Goteborg	O		AI	0207	XWL

Explanations:

•   for New York City in the United States. Subdivision is the U.S. state of New York (see). Function: port, rail, road, airport, postal. IATA code is NYC. Coordinates: 40.7°N -74°W.
•   for Berlin (city) in Germany. Subdivision is the German state of Berlin (see). Function: port, rail, road, airport, postal. IATA code is BER. Coordinates: 52.5167°N 36°W.
•   for Berlin-Tegel Airport in Germany. Function: airport. IATA code is TXL.
•   for Paris (city) in France. Subdivision is the French department of Paris (see). Function: port, rail, road, postal.
•   for Par in United Kingdom. Subdivision is the English county of Cornwall (see). Function: port.
•   for Göteborg (Goteborg without diacritics) in Sweden. Subdivision is the Swedish county of Västra Götaland (see). Function: port, airport, postal. The IATA code of XWL indicated in the table is that of a train station in the city centre of Göteborg (though not the Central Station), while the IATA code for the main airport (Göteborg Landvetter Airport) is actually GOT. It also has a separate reference entry showing an alternate spelling of Gothenburg.

Data fields

The fields are listed in the official order.

Ch (Changes)

A change from the previous issue is indicated by one of the following characters in the first column:

  Marked for deletion in the next issue

  Change in location name (usually spelling)

  Other changes in the entry (not location)

  Entry added to the current issue

=  Reference entry

  Retained for certain entries in the USA code list ("controlled duplications")

Locode

The code is represented with a space between the alpha-2 codes of ISO 3166-1 country code and the 3-character element.

Name

Names of locations should be shown using the 26 letters of the Roman alphabet with, where appropriate, diacritic signs as contained in ISO 10646-1/1993 or ISO 8859-1/1987.

Name Without Diacritics

The name of the location, but non-practicable Diacritics may be ignored and should not be converted into additional characters(e.g., Göteborg may be read as Goteborg, rather than Goeteborg, Gothenburg, Gotembourg, etc.).

Can contain an apostrophe, e.g. L'viv

SubDiv (Subdivision)

The ISO 1 to 3 character alphabetic and/or numeric code for the administrative division (state, province, department, etc.) of the country, as included in ISO 3166-2/1998. Only the latter part of the complete ISO 3166-2 code element (after the hyphen) is shown.

Function

Each defined function gets a classifier; the most important are:

• 1 = port (for any kind of waterborne transport)

• 2 = rail terminal

• 3 = road terminal

• 4 = airport

• 5 = postal exchange office

• 6 = Inland Clearance Depot – ICD or "Dry Port", "Inland Clearance Terminal", etc.

• 7 = fixed transport functions (e.g. oil platform)"; the classifier "7" is reserved for this function. Noting that the description "oil pipeline terminal" would be more relevant, and could be extended to cover also electric power lines and ropeway terminals.

• B = Border crossing function

• 0 = function not known, to be specified

Status

Indicates the status of the entry by a 2-character code. The following codes are used at present:

• AA: Approved by competent national government agency

• AC: Approved by Customs Authority

• AF: Approved by national facilitation body

• AI: Code adopted by international organisation (IATA or ECLAC)

• AM: Approved by the UN/LOCODE Maintenance Agency

• AQ: Entry approved, functions not verified

• AS: Approved by national standardisation body

• RL: Recognised location - Existence and representation of location name confirmed by check against nominated gazetteer or other reference work

• RN: Request from credible national sources for locations in their own country

• RQ: Request under consideration

• UR: Entry included on user's request; not officially approved

• RR: Request rejected

• QQ: Original entry not verified since date indicated

• XX: Entry that will be removed from the next issue of UN/LOCODE

Date

The date the location was added or updated: 0207 is July 2002, 9501 is January 1995, etc.

The edition published in 2008 uses the value 0701 for additions, while in other cases the exact month is used like 9710, 0212.

IATA

For correlation purposes, the IATA code for the location is marked if different from the second part of the UN/LOCODE.

Coordinates

Some entries have coordinates in the database. They are represented as: ddmmN dddmmW, ddmmS dddmmE, etc.

Remarks

The remarks column can among other things contain a hint to what specifically was changed (See data field - "Change").

Availability

AvailabilityUN/LOCODE is available on the UNECE website, where the latest release of UNLOCODE directories and background documents are listed. Complete UN/LOCODE code list may be downloaded in the format of.mdb (MS Access database), .txt (text file) and .csv (Comma-separated values). HTML pages are also displayed on the website by countries.

Data Maintenance Requests

UN/LOCODE Data Maintenance Request system is web-based (http://apps.unece.org/unlocode/), which enables registered users to submit online requests for new UN/LOCODE entry modifications.

The system provides online functions for

• Registration of users and password retrieval

• Submission of requests for new UN/LOCODE entries

• Submission of requests for modification changes in existing UN/LOCODE entries

• A guide to explain the use of the system

Release history

Notes:

  Additions to the current issue

  Other changes

  Change in location (spelling or other)

  Entries marked for deletion in the next issue

Issue	Date	Entries	Changes					Notes
			+	¦		X	Total
2002-1 ^[2]	2002	35,460	2,503	597	100	24	3,224	Based on 2006-1, entries should be 34,766
2002-2 ^[3]	2002-07-29	36,005	1,235	252	93	6	1,586	Based on 2006-1, entries should be 35,977
2003-1 ^[4]	2002-12-20	38,000	707	523	2,779	2	4,011	Based on 2006-1, entries should be 36,678
2003-2 ^[5]	2003-08-01 ^[6]	40,000	2,402	1,099	283	324	4,108	Based on 2006-1, entries should be 39,078
2004-1 ^[7]	2004-02-18	47,725	1,958	694	208	167	3,027	Based on 2006-1, entries should be 40,712
2004-2 ^[8]	2004-07-27	50,000	1,707	87	26	5	1,825	Based on 2006-1, entries should be 42,252
2005-1 ^[9]	2005-02-28	50,000	2,291	196	46	16	2,549	Based on 2006-1, entries should be 44,538
2005-2 ^[10]	2005	50,000	929	178	55	8	1,170	Based on 2006-1, entries should be 45,451
2006-1 ^[11]	2006-06-09	48,553	3,110	42	43	11	3,206	<	--notes here-->
2006-2 ^[12]	2007-04-30	54,705	6,400	79	15	157	6,651	<	--notes here-->
2007 ^[13]	2008-03-20	58,875	4,327	753	153	24	5,257	<	--notes here-->
2009-1 ^[14]	2009-09-23	71,665	13,271	0	0	8	13,279	<	--notes here-->
2009-2 ^[15]	2010-02-08	76,375	4,377	347	85	165	4,974	<	--notes here-->
2010-1 ^[16]	2010-10-29	79,973	3,800	121	32	55	4,008	<	--notes here-->
2010-2 ^[17]	2010-12-18	81,464	1,538	23	0	47	1,608	<	--notes here-->
2011-1 ^[18]	2011-09-22	82,358	567	654	1,819	477	3,517	<	--notes here-->
2011-2 ^[19]	2012-02-28 ^[20]	83,287	1,655	0	7	0	1,662	<	--notes here-->loc112sec.pdf: "main code list has now over 84 000 entries"
2012-1 ^[21]	2012-09-14 ^[22]	88,300	5,311	495	142	3	5,951	<	--notes here--> The loc121txt/loc121sec.pdf says: "UN/LOCODE 2012-1 includes 83 287 entries."
2012-2 ^[23]	2013-03-07 ^[24]		2,299	479	221	116	3,115	<	--notes here--> The loc122sec.pdf says: "main code list has now over 90 000 entries and the database contains a total of over 100 000 records", "2012-2 includes 90 645 entries"
2013-1 ^[25]	2013-07-05 ^[26]		4,709	503	97	2,175	7,484	<	--notes here--> The loc131sec.pdf says: "2013-1 main code list has now over 90 000 entries and the database contains a total of over 100 000 records", "2013-1 includes 95 721 entries"
2013-2 ^[27]	2013-12-20 ^[28]	95,066	1,518	1,482	36	55	3,091
2015-1 ^[29]	2015-07-06		2,066	513	34	122	2735	2015-1_UNLOCODE_SecretariatNotes.pdf: "UN/LOCODE 2015-1 main code list has now 100 969 entries."
2015-2 ^[30]	2015-12-17		2187	531	90	58	2866	2015-2 UNLOCCODE SecritariatNotes.pdf: "UN/LOCODE 2015-2 main code list has now 103 034 entries."
2016-1 ^[31]	2016-07-01		2356	106	20	16	2498	2016-1 UNLOCCODE SecritariatNotes.pdf: "UN/LOCODE 2016-1 includes 104 848 entries. "
2016-2 ^[32]	2016-12-22		1631	284	23	40	1978	2016-2 UNLOCCODE SecritariatNotes.pdf: "UN/LOCODE 2016-2 includes 107 010 entries."
2017-1 ^[33]	2017-07-13		1201	89	45	55	1390	2017-1 UNLOCCODE SecritariatNotes.pdf: "UN/LOCODE 2017-1 main code list has now 108 170 entries."
2017-2 ^[34]	2017-12-21		928	225	13	18	1184	2017-2 UNLOCCODE SecritariatNotes.pdf: "UN/LOCODE 2017-2 main code list has now 108 502 entries."
2018-1 ^[35]	2018-07-02		1396	438	98	90	2022	2018-1 UNLOCCODE SecritariatNotes.pdf: "UN/LOCODE 2018-1 main code list has now 110 361 entries."
2018-2 ^[36]	2018-12-21		1252	52	39	221	1564	2018-2 UNLOCCODE SecritariatNotes.pdf: "UN/LOCODE 2018-2 main code list has now 111 486 entries."
2019-1 ^[37]	2019-07-05		258	4401	1289	121	6069	2019-1 UNLOCCODE SecritariatNotes.pdf: "UN/LOCODE 2019-1 main code list has now 111 513 entries."
2019-2 ^[38]	2019-12-12		121	159	23	25	328	2019-2 UNLOCCODE SecritariatNotes.pdf: "UN/LOCODE 2019-2 main code list has now 111 522 entries."
2020-1 ^[39]	2020-07-01		400	27	14	13	454	2020-1 UNLOCCODE SecritariatNotes.pdf: "UN/LOCODE 2020-1 main code list has now 111 897 entries."
2020-2 ^[40]	2020-12-15		267	76	25	14	382	2020-2 UNLOCCODE SecritariatNotes.pdf: "UN/LOCODE 2020-2 main code list has now 112 151 entries."
2021-2 ^[41]	2021-12-13		3698	1289	888	108	5983	2021-2 UNLOCCODE SecritariatNotes.pdf: "UN/LOCODE 2021-2 main code list has now 115 989 entries."
2022-1 ^[42]	2022-07-08		216	134	1	13	364	2022-1 UNLOCCODE SecritariatNotes.pdf: "UN/LOCODE 2022-1 main code list has now 116 097 entries."

See also

• Lists of airports by IATA and ICAO code
• List of IATA-indexed railway stations

External links

• United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and E-business(UN/CEFACT)
• UN/LOCODE, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), UN/LOCODE
• UN/LOCODE Code List download (latest version)
• Location code list by country and territory *
• Country subdivisions *
• Web site: Note by the secretariat introducing the latest version of UN/LOCODE - 2022-H2.
• Web site: UN/LOCODE Manual .
• Web site: Formal basis of UN/LOCODE, UNECE Recommendation for Trade Facilitation No.16 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: UN/LOCODE (United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations), Issue 2006-2 . 30 April 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070509020918/http://www.unece.org/cefact/locode/ . 9 May 2007.
2. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2002-1 . . 2002.
3. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2002-2 . . 2002-07-29.
4. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2003-1 . . 2002-12-20.
5. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2003-2 . . 1 August 2003.
6. Web site: UN/CEFACT: News . . https://web.archive.org/web/20031205053132/http://www.unece.org/cefact/ . 2003-12-05.
7. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2004-1 . . 2004-02-18.
8. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2004-2 . . 2004-07-27.
9. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2005-1 . . 2005-02-28.
10. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2005-2 . . 2005 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060304114519/http://www.unece.org/cefact/locode/loc052sec.pdf . 2006-03-04.
11. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2006-1 . . 2006-06-09.
12. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2006-2 . . 2007-04-30.
13. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2007 . . 2008-03-20.
14. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2009-1 . . 2009-09-23.
15. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2009-2 . . 2010-02-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100414172935/http://www.unece.org/cefact/locode/loc092sec.pdf . 2010-04-14.
16. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2010-1 . . 2010-10-29.
17. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2010-2 . . 2010-12-18.
18. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2011-1 . . 2011-09-22.
19. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2011-2 . . 2012-02-28.
20. Web site: UN/CEFACT: News Archive . . 2012-08-26.
21. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2012-1 . . 2012-09-14.
22. Web site: UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and E-business (UN/CEFACT) . . 2012-10-07.
23. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2012-2 . . 2013-03-09.
24. Web site: UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and E-business (UN/CEFACT) . . 2013-03-09.
25. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2013-1 . . 2013-08-21.
26. Web site: UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and E-business (UN/CEFACT) . . 2013-08-21.
27. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2013-2 . . 2013-12-20.
28. Web site: UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and E-business (UN/CEFACT) . . 2013-12-20.
29. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2015-1 . . 2015-07-06.
30. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCCODE 2015-2 . . 2015-12-17.
31. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCCODE 2016-1 . . 2016-07-01.
32. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCCODE 2016-2 . . 2016-12-22.
33. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCCODE 2017-1 . . 2017-07-13.
34. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCCODE 2017-2 . . 2017-12-21.
35. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCCODE 2018-1 . . 2018-07-02.
36. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCCODE 2018-2 . . 2018-12-21.
37. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCCODE 2019-1 . . 2019-07-05.
38. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCCODE 2019-2 . . 2019-12-12.
39. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCCODE 2020-1 . . 2020-07-01.
40. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCCODE 2020-2 . . 2020-12-15.
41. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCCODE 2021-2 . . 2021-12-13.
42. Web site: Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCCODE 2022-1 . . 2022-07-08.

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