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Empresa Nacional de Ferrocarriles del Peru

The Empresa Nacional de Ferrocarriles del Perú (ENAFER) is a public company which ensures the management and the commercial use of the railway network of Peru. It was created by decree on 19 September 1944 by the nationalization of all private railways in the nation. The Ferrocarriles del Perú operates through several subsidiaries that administer sections of the railways, subsidiaries that descend from the various private companies which built the railways in the Nineteenth Century.

The Ferrocarril Central del Perú operates a main line running from the port city of Callao to the capital, Lima, crossing into Junín state via the Galera Tunnel, and onward to La Oroya, where it splits in two. The northern branch goes to the Pasco region, through Cerro de Pasco to the Goyllarisquizga coal mines. A smaller branch line splits off at Cerro de Pasco and runs into Pachitea Province. South of La Oroya the southern branch goes through Huancayo and thence to Huancavelica, which was reached in 1926. Further construction languished for nearly two decades, when in 1945 work began to extend the line to Ayacucho.

The Ferrocarriles del Sur del Perú was completed from Arequipa to Puno in 1876 and to the coast at Matarani in 1890. Although work on the Juliaca–Cuzco section was begun in 1872 it was not completed through until 1908. In 1907 a branch linking Cuzco with Aguas Calientes was authorized, though this was not completed until 1928, and this line was further extended to Quillabamba in 1931. Presently work is underway to construct a rail line between Aguas Calientes and Ayacucho, which would link the Ferrocarriles del Sur with the Ferrocarril Central.

Other railway development work being pursued at the present time is a standard-gauge line from the port of Ilo to the mining centers of Moquegua and Toquepala.

The former Ferrocarril Tacna á Arica was completed in 1856. Due to still unresolved border questions with Chile this line has operated intermittently, and it is presently closed.

Empresa Nacional de Transporte Aéreo del Perú

The Empresa Nacional de Transporte Aéreo del Perú, operating under the name Aeroperú, is the national flag carrier of Perú, operating international and domestic routes as well as providing local transport services in the rural district of the Amazon basin and the Altiplano. It came into being on 15 September 1945 through the amalgamation of the quasi-military Servicio Aéreo de Transporte Comercial with the formerly private Compañía de Aviación Faucett, and the Compañía de Aviación Peruanas, the local subsidiary of Pan American Grace Airways.

Route System

The airline presently serves twenty-six destinations across the country on a scheduled basis, operating to all parts of the nation. In addition to scheduled passenger and cargo services Aeroperú operates a fleet of small aircraft to undertake charters and emergency flights in isolated regions of the Amazon and the Altiplano.



Equipment

Aeroperú operates a variety of aircraft to provide efficient services to the varied regions of the nation. A trio of American-built DC-4 four-engine aircraft are operated on high density services, while American-sourced Douglas DC-3, Lockheed 18 Lodestar, and Lockheed Model 14 Electra twin-engine aircraft are employed on medium-density routes. The workhorse of the local and rural network is the indigenous ENA C-19 Pardusco, of which more than thirty examples have entered service since its introduction.

Orders were recently placed in the Netherlands for five Fokker F.26 twin-engine airliners which will permit retirement of some of the Douglas/Lockheed fleet upon their delivery. Also acquired were three civil versions of the Fokker F.39 heavy transport, which will operate special freight services to the Amazon basin while executing freight charters.

By presidential decree of 5 July 1945 those Peruvian companies engaged in ocean or river navigation were nationalized as “an essential means of national economic development”, and the Empresa Nacional de Navegaceon was organized to operate the Peruvian merchant marine in a coordinated fashion. The expansion and modernization of the nation’s merchant fleet was accorded high priority by the Government.

At the time of nationalization, the ocean-going merchant marine comprised by eleven vessels, most small and elderly, totaling less than 70,000 tons deadweight. The state of river shipping in the upper Amazon basin was even more deplorable; only four small steamers – the most modern constructed in 1907 – were available. To manage the available ships and to plan for future growth two operating subsidiaries were set up: Compania Nacional Peruana de Vapores – controlling all ocean and coastal shipping; and Compania Nacional de Naviera Amazonica Peruana – responsible for Peruvian-flag shipping throughout the Amazon basin.

Compania Nacional Peruana de Vapores, with its headquarters in the port of Callao, maintains regular passenger and cargo services between Talara in the north and Matarani in the south, as well as engaging in the outward carriage of mineral cargos and the inward carriage of freight for the domestic economy; formal liner services are not operated at this time.

In the past two years its fleet has grown significantly, through the acquisition of second-hand tonnage in Europe and the United States. Two passenger-cargo vessels were acquired from Germany and employed on regular services from Callao to Talara. Four modest-sized freighters were purchased to augment services to the south, while two refrigerated cargo ships were obtained for the carriage of fruit to North America. Today it operates a fleet of nineteen vessels amounting to more than 120,000 tons deadweight.

Compania Nacional de Naviera Amazonica Peruana, operating from Iquitos, has also seen major expansion, likewise through the purchase of surplus tonnage. Three modern cargo ships were obtained to open services down the Amazon to destinations in the Caribbean; a small tanker was purchased assure the supply of fuel at Iquitos. Its present fleet comprises eight vessels totaling more than 10,000 tons deadweight.

Future Plans

The Comita Estatal de Desarollo Economico has declared the renovation of the national merchant marine a priority, requesting the Ministerio de Transportes y Communicaciones to draw up designs for vessels suitable for construction in the nation’s shipyards to meet the needs of the operating companies and the Ministerio de la Produccion to make facilities available for their construction. The goal is to construct a minimum of ten vessels totaling 80,000 tons deadweight between the present and 1950, with additional tonnage to continue to be purchased on the open market as circumstances permit.