With more than 100,000 entries and a community of users from 249 countries, dependent territories and special areas, the United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations (UN/LOCODE) is a public good that helps reduce the cost of international trade. UN/LOCODE is used to identify ports, airports, inland clearance depots, inland freight terminals as well as other transport related locations and plays an essential role in international trade transactions.

For example, the use of UN/LOCODE helped reduce the costs of imports for a single company in China by almost USD 200 million per year! Prior to 2014, an average of 300,000 containers of stone materials was imported by this company each year to Shanghai Port. From there they were transported by highway from Shanghai to the end-user in Rugao Port, at a cost of CNY 4,000 (USD 650) per container. After the designation and implementation of a UN/LOCODE entry for Rugao Port, international shippers were able to ship the containers directly to Rugao Port at virtually no extra cost, thus saving around USD 200 million annually. Apart from the savings, the direct shipment also significantly reduced road traffic between Shanghai and Rugao Port.

This was just one example, provided by an expert from the China National Institute of Standardization, of the power of using the international standard developed by UNECE discussed at the UN/LOCODE conference in Geneva on 24 April 2015. More than 40 countries, international organizations and private sector organizations participated in the event. Concrete proposals for supporting the maintenance and improvement of UN/LOCODE emanating from the conference included: institutionalization of the role of UN/LOCODE National Focal Points; the establishment of official terms of reference for UN/LOCODE National Focal Points; and a decision to update the latest version of UNECE Recommendation Number 16 (1998) which defines UN/LOCODE and makes recommendations for its maintenance and use. A call was also made for all interested stakeholders to participate in this work.

The UNECE secretariat develops and maintains UN/LOCODE as a service to governments in the framework of its trade facilitation efforts. Since its first release in 1981, UN/LOCODE’s entries have increased significantly. In 2014, the website dedicated to UN/LOCODE counted some 800’000 hits from non-duplicate users and UNECE received more than 8’000 requests for new location codes and modifications to existing location codes.

The use of UN/LOCODE is either recommended or required by several international organizations/agreements, such as the World Customs Organization (in their data model), the International Maritime Organization Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS) and the European Maritime Safety Agency.