UN LOCODE
Contents
Definition
UN/LOCODE is the "United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations". It is managed and maintained by the UNECE, but is the product of a wide collaboration in the framework of the joint trade facilitation effort undertaken within the United Nations.
UN/LOCODE is based on a code structure set up by UN/ECLAC and a list of locations originating in UN/ESCAP, developed in UNCTAD in co-operation with transport organisations like IATA and the ICS and with active contributions from national governments and commercial bodies. Its first issue in 1981 provided codes to represent the names of some 8.000 locations in the world.
Currently, UN/LOCODE includes over 103,034 locations in 249 countries and territories. It is used by most major shipping companies, by freight forwarders and in the manufacturing industry around the world. It is also applied by national governments and in trade related activities, such as statistics where it is used by the European Union, by the UPU for certain postal services, etc
The 2020 revision of Recommendation 16 advises that UN/LOCODE identifies an administrative or economic area relevant to international trade and transport. However, some use cases may require further precision. A repository of child codes is maintained which identify a facility which delivers services in a location listed in the UN/LOCODE database.
Structure
UN/LOCODEs have five characters. The first two letters code a country by the table defined in ISO 3166 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.
Example
"IN AKB" is a location in India.
