Editing Transport in Colombia (section)

===Ports, waterways, and merchant marine===
[[File:Mapa_de_Colombia_(ríos).svg|thumb|200px|Rivers of Colombia]]

Seaports handle around 80 percent of international cargo. In 2005 a total of 105,251 metric tons of cargo were transported by water. Colombia's most important ocean terminals are [[Barranquilla]], [[Cartagena, Colombia|Cartagena]], and [[Santa Marta]] on the Caribbean Coast and [[Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca|Buenaventura]] and [[Tumaco]] on the Pacific Coast. Exports mostly pass through the Caribbean ports of Cartagena and Santa Marta, while 65 percent of imports arrive at the port of Buenaventura. Other important ports and harbors are Bahía de Portete, [[Leticia, Amazonas|Leticia]], Puerto Bolívar, [[Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina|San Andrés]], Santa Marta, and [[Turbo, Colombia|Turbo]]. Since privatization was implemented in 1993, the efficiency of port handling has increased greatly. Privatization, however, has had negative impacts as well. In Buenaventura, for example, privatization of the harbor has increased unemployment and social issues.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/nacional/buenaventura-un-puerto-sin-comunidad-articulo-563958|title=Buenaventura: un puerto sin comunidad|date=1 June 2015|access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref> There are plans to construct a deep-water port at Bahía Solano.<ref name=cp/>

The main inland waterways total about 18,200 kilometers, 11,000 kilometers of which are navigable by riverboats. A well-developed and important form of transport for both cargo and passengers, inland waterways transport approximately 3.8 million metric tons of freight and more than 5.5 million passengers annually. Main inland waterways are the Magdalena–Cauca River system, which is navigable for 1,500 kilometers; the Atrato, which is navigable for 687 kilometers; the Orinoco system of more than five navigable rivers, which total more than 4,000 kilometers of potential navigation (mainly through Venezuela); and the Amazonas system, which has four main rivers totaling 3,000 navigable kilometers (mainly through Brazil). The government is planning an ambitious program to more fully utilize the main rivers for transport. In addition, the navy's riverine brigade has been patrolling waterways more aggressively in order to establish safer river transport in the more remote areas in the south and east of the country.<ref name=cp/>

The merchant marine totals 17 ships (1,000 gross registered tons or more), including four bulk, 13 cargo, one container, one liquefied gas, and three petroleum tanker ships. Colombia also has seven ships registered in other countries (Antigua and Barbuda, two; Panama, five).<ref name=cp/>