Transport on Saint Helena

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This article deals with traffic in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, that is all forms of traffic in the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.

Contents

Saint Helena

Road traffic

The island of Saint Helena has a 138-kilometre-long (86 mi) road network, consisting of 118 kilometres (73 mi) of paved and 20 kilometres (12 mi) of unpaved road. [1] Most roads are single-lane, and uphill traffic has a right of way. A general speed limit of 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) applies to the entire island. On Saint Helena there is a public bus network that in January 2015 served five routes, [2] but was expanded in September 2015, [3] March 2016 [4] and October 2017. [5]

Shipping

The M/V Helena serves the island from Cape Town on a monthly basis. [6] [7] The ship was built in 1998 in China and can take 4,924 tonnes (4,846 long tons; 5,428 short tons) of cargo, or 218 TEU.

Saint Helena has a feeder and a harbour:

Air traffic

Airport Saint Helena St Helena Airport Terminal (16331626258).jpg
Airport Saint Helena

With the opening of Saint Helena Airport, scheduled flights have been operated since 14 October 2017, twelve years after the British government agreed to fund it in order to encourage tourism to the island. [8]

The new airport is served weekly from Johannesburg (South Africa). [9] During the pandemic 2020-2021 this service were temporarily cancelled and instead monthly flights operated from London (UK), but from 2022 there were flights from Johannesburg again, and by 2023 the flights came twice weekly in the summer season. [10]

Rail traffic

Ladder Hill Railway Jamestown Jacobs Ladder.jpg
Ladder Hill Railway

In 1829, the Saint Helena Railway Company opened a horse-drawn railway from Jamestown to Half Tree Hollow, [11] which was also known as Ladder Hill Railway, or Jacob's Ladder. The main purpose was to transport goods from the port of Jamestown to the higher houses. The service was discontinued in 1871 because it was damaged by termites. [12]

Another small rail network was built for the seawater desalination plant in Ruperts. Details of the track are not known. [13]

Ascension

Road traffic

On Ascension there is a road network of 40 kilometres (25 mi), which is continuously paved. [1] The public bus transport network has four stops (as of 2014). [14]

Shipping

Ascension has a feeder in the island's capital Georgetown. The port was modernized in 2011 with a new crane, among other things. [15]

Air traffic

Wideawake airfield, Ascension Ascension Island, Wideawake Airfield (1).JPG
Wideawake airfield, Ascension

With Wideawake Airfield, Ascension has had an airport since 1943. It is primarily used for military purposes, but is also served by monthly scheduled services from Saint Helena. [16] [17]

Tristan da Cunha

Road traffic

Tristan da Cunha has a road network of 20 kilometres (12 mi), half of which is paved or half unpaved. [1] The island has probably the smallest public bus network in the world. The fleet of minibuses is available to pensioners free of charge. [18]

Shipping

Calshot Harbour, Tristan da Cunha Edinburgh of the Seven Seas 02.jpg
Calshot Harbour, Tristan da Cunha

The shipping traffic is of outstanding importance for Tristan da Cunha, which has no airfield. All goods and travellers can only reach the island by sea. Tristan da Cunha is approached irregularly from Cape Town by MFV Edinburgh, M/V Baltic Trader, and S. A. Agulhas II. [19]

Tristan da Cunha has with the Calshot Harbour [20] a port in Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. The port was comprehensively renovated at the beginning of 2017. It is 2 meters deep and takes only smaller boats. All larger ships have to stay offshore and both passengers and cargo have to be transferred to small boats.

Air traffic

Tristan da Cunha has no airport or airstrip of any kind. [21]

The S.A Agulhas II has a helicopter which is used for transport between the ship and land. [22] The other ships regularly visiting Tristan da Cunha don't have that, and transport ashore is done with small boats which requires waves not to be too large.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Saint Helena is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory.

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha are British Overseas Territories in the south Atlantic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tristan da Cunha</span> South Atlantic island group

Tristan da Cunha, colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately 2,787 kilometres (1,732 mi) from Cape Town in South Africa, 2,437 kilometres (1,514 mi) from Saint Helena, 3,949 kilometres (2,454 mi) from Mar del Plata in Argentina, and 4,002 kilometres (2,487 mi) from the Falkland Islands.

Tristan da Cunha is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha and has a history going back to the beginning of the 16th century. It was settled by men from military garrisons and ships, who married native women from Saint Helena and the Cape Colony. Its people are multi-racial, descended from European male founders and mixed-race and African women founders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Saint Helena</span>

The flag of Saint Helena consists of a Blue Ensign defaced with the shield from the British overseas territory's coat of arms. Adopted in 1984 shortly after the island was granted a new coat of arms, it has been the flag since. Saint Helena's flag is similar to the flags of eight other British Overseas Territories, which are also Blue Ensigns with their respective coats of arms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamestown, Saint Helena</span> Capital and chief port of Saint Helena

Jamestown is the capital city of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, located on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is also the historic main settlement of the island and is on its north-western coast. Before the development of the port at Rupert's Bay, it was the island's only port and the centre of the island's road and communications network. It was founded when colonists from the English East India Company settled on the island in 1659 and was briefly occupied by the Dutch East India Company in 1673 before being recaptured. Many of the buildings built by the East India Company in the 18th century survive and give the town its distinctive Georgian flavour.

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Edinburgh of the Seven Seas is the only settlement on the island of Tristan da Cunha, a part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean. Locally, it is referred to as The Settlement or The Village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Governor of Saint Helena</span> Representative of the monarch in Saint Helena

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RMS <i>St Helena</i> (1989) British cargo liner in service 1990–2018

RMS St Helena is a cargo liner that served the British overseas territory of Saint Helena. She sailed between Cape Town and Saint Helena with regular shuttles continuing to Ascension Island. Some voyages also served Walvis Bay en route to and from, or occasionally instead of, Cape Town. She visited Portland, Dorset twice a year with normal calls in the Spanish ports of Vigo (northbound) and Tenerife (southbound) until 14 October 2011, when she set sail on her final voyage from the English port.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Saint Helena Police Service</span> Police in the overseas territory

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Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha, as well the other uninhabited islands nearby, are a haven for wildlife in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The islands are or were home to much endemic flora and fauna, especially invertebrates, and many endemic fish species are found in the reef ecosystems off the islands. The islands have been identified by BirdLife International as Important Bird Areas for both their endemic landbirds and breeding seabirds.

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Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about 960 miles (1,540 km) from the coast of Africa and 1,400 miles (2,300 km) from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, of which the main island, Saint Helena, is around 800 miles (1,300 km) to the southeast. The territory also includes the sparsely populated Tristan da Cunha archipelago, 2,000 miles (3,200 km) to the south, about halfway to the Antarctic Circle.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha</span> Political structure of UK overseas territories

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Same-sex marriage has been legal in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha since 2017. An ordinance to open marriage to same-sex couples in Saint Helena was passed by the Legislative Council in a 9–2 vote on 19 December 2017. It went into force the following day, and the first same-sex marriage was performed on 31 December 2018. Same-sex couples have also been able to marry in Ascension Island since 1 January 2017 and in Tristan da Cunha since 4 August 2017.

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References

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  2. "Public Transport Timetable – from January 2015" (PDF). St Helena Government. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  3. "SHG Breaks Public Transport Promises Again" (PDF). The Sentinel. 21 January 2016. p. 11.
  4. "Finally Here! – Bus Contract Arrives Behind Schedule" (PDF). The Sentinel. 11 February 2016. S. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  5. "Public Transport Timetables – Effective from 1 Oct 2017". St Helena Government. 1 October 2017. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  6. "AW Ship Management Release Cargo Ship Schedule" (PDF). The Sentinel. 17 March 2016. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  7. Shipping, St Helena. "Home - St Helena Shipping and Marine Cargo Service". St Helena Shipping. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  8. Buckley, Julia (17 December 2017). "How it feels to fly into the 'world's most useless airport'". The Independent. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
  9. Cropley, Ed (15 October 2017). "Tears and joy on Britain's St. Helena as 'world's most useless airport' finally opens". Reuters. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
  10. "St Helena Air Services". Saint Helena Government. 17 October 2023.
  11. "Views of St Helena". Cambridge University Library; Royal Commonwealth Society Library. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  12. "Jacob's Ladder". Saint Helena Island Info. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  13. "Our (other) Railway". Saint Helena Island Info. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  14. "Weekend Bus Service" (PDF). Ascension Island Government. January 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  15. "New Harbour Crane for Ascension Island" (PDF). Ascension Island Government. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  16. "Travel by Air – Ascension Island Government". www.ascension.gov.ac. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  17. "Further St Helena Charter Flights Confirmed – Ascension Island Government". www.ascension.gov.ac. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  18. "Tristan da Cunha Land Transport". The Tristan da Cunha Website. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  19. "Tristan da Cunha Shipping Schedule". Tristan da Cunha Government. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  20. "Tristan da Cunha's Calshot Harbour". The Tristan da Cunha Website. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  21. https://www.tristandc.com/visits.php | Tristan da Cunha Visiting Tristan. Retrieved 9 August 2020
  22. "2018 SA Agulhas II Visit".