# UN/LOCODE Key: `geography.transportation.unlocode` United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations. 5-character code: 2-letter ISO 3166-1 country code followed by 3-character location code (uppercase letters or digits 2-9). Page: Samples: `USLAX`, `GBLON`, `DEHAM`, `SGSIN`, `NLRTM` ## Background ### Origin Work on the United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations (UN/LOCODE) was started in 1972 by the UNECE Working Party on Facilitation of International Trade Procedures.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) The UNECE Working Party on Facilitation of International Trade Procedures was the predecessor of the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT).[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) The first edition of Recommendation No. 16 on UN/LOCODE was released in 1980, after consultation with international organisations that included ECLAC, ESCAP and IATA.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) A second edition of Recommendation No. 16, which included a manual on maintenance procedures, was published in 1995.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) Recommendation No. 16 explains that the names of trade locations are often spelled in different ways, and that the same location is sometimes given different names in different languages.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) Recommendation No. 16 proposes agreed, uniquely coded designations as the way to identify each location involved in international trade without ambiguity.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) Recommendation No. 16 defines UN/LOCODE as a five-character geographic coding scheme developed and maintained by UNECE through UN/CEFACT.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) The first two characters of a UN/LOCODE are the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) The last three characters of a UN/LOCODE represent the place name and normally comprise three letters.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) Where no ISO 3166 country code element is available, as for installations in international waters, Recommendation No. 16 makes the code element XZ available for user assignment.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) Recommendation No. 16 says a UN/LOCODE identifies an administrative or economic area relevant to international trade and transport, understood in the sense of a city or a town.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) Recommendation No. 16 provides for child codes, built on a UN/LOCODE, to identify facilities such as container terminals inside a location.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) Recommendation No. 16 says codes that have been used for deleted entries should not be reused for future locations.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) ### Use UNECE's foreword to Recommendation No. 16 says UN/LOCODE is widely used by customs administrations, statistics departments, the transport industry and the manufacturing industry.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) UNECE describes the official UN/LOCODE publication as biannual.[[2]](https://unlocode.unece.org/publications/) The downloadable UN/LOCODE files in CSV, TXT and MS Access split the code into a Country field and a Location field.[[3]](https://unlocode.unece.org/docs/data-attributes/) IMO's SN/Circ.244 recommends using the UN/LOCODE to enter both the port of departure and the next port of call in a ship's AIS destination field.[[4]](https://navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/NAIS/IMO_SN_Circ244_AIS_UNLOCODE.pdf) SN/Circ.244 gives AE DXB\>NL RTM as the destination entry for a ship leaving Dubai bound for Rotterdam.[[4]](https://navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/NAIS/IMO_SN_Circ244_AIS_UNLOCODE.pdf) SN/Circ.244 says ?? ??? should be entered when the next port of call is unknown.[[4]](https://navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/NAIS/IMO_SN_Circ244_AIS_UNLOCODE.pdf) SN/Circ.244 says XX XXX should be entered when the port of departure has no designated UN/LOCODE.[[4]](https://navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/NAIS/IMO_SN_Circ244_AIS_UNLOCODE.pdf) Treat AIS destinations as hand-typed text: pull the codes out with a pattern that tolerates the space and the \> separator, and read XX XXX and ?? ??? as missing values rather than as locations. (Meridian's view) Recommendation No. 16 says a code with status RQ, a request under consideration, should not be used in international electronic communication until the request has been validated.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) Recommendation No. 16 says entries to be deleted are marked with change indicator X and status XX, and are deleted from the subsequent version.[[1]](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) ### Where you'll meet it The DCSA data model gives BEANR, for the city of Antwerp in Belgium, as an example UN Location Code.[[5]](https://models.dcsa.org/2024Q4/EARoot/EA5/EA2/EA6/EA4/EA2525.htm) IMO's Maritime Safety Committee approved the guidance in SN/Circ.244 in December 2004 and encouraged the use of the UN/LOCODE.[[4]](https://navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/NAIS/IMO_SN_Circ244_AIS_UNLOCODE.pdf) ## Sources 1. [United Nations Economic Commission for Europe \| UN/LOCODE](https://unlocode.unece.org/recommendation16/) — standard 2. [Publications \| UN/LOCODE](https://unlocode.unece.org/publications/) — documentation 3. [Data Attributes \| UN/LOCODE](https://unlocode.unece.org/docs/data-attributes/) — documentation 4. [Guidance on the use of the UN/LOCODE in the destination field in AIS messages](https://navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/NAIS/IMO_SN_Circ244_AIS_UNLOCODE.pdf) — organisation 5. [UN Location](https://models.dcsa.org/2024Q4/EARoot/EA5/EA2/EA6/EA4/EA2525.htm) — organisation