What UN/LOCODE is
UN/LOCODE, the United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations, is a global standard maintained under the auspices of the UN Economic Commission for Europe. It assigns a five-character code to ports, airports, and other transport locations so that they can be referenced unambiguously across countries, languages, and computer systems.
The first two letters identify the country, and for Cuba that is always CU. The remaining three letters identify the specific location. These codes appear on bills of lading, customs declarations, booking systems, and vessel schedules, giving everyone in the logistics chain a common reference for exactly which harbour is meant, regardless of local spelling or naming.
Codes for Cuba's principal ports
Cuba's most important seaports carry codes that recur constantly in shipping paperwork. Mariel, the deepwater container hub, is CUMAR. Havana, the historic capital port, is CUHAV. Santiago de Cuba, the eastern gateway, is CUSCU.
On the central and northern coasts, Cienfuegos is CUCFG and Matanzas is CUMTZ. These identifiers let a shipper, carrier, or customs officer confirm the intended port at a glance. Because the codes are standardized internationally, a booking that names CUMAR points to Mariel anywhere in the world, avoiding the confusion that place names alone can cause.
Using and verifying the codes
For logistics work, always confirm codes against the official UN/LOCODE dataset rather than memory, since the list is periodically updated and additional Cuban locations, such as Nuevitas and smaller harbours, also appear in it. The authoritative source is published by the UN Economic Commission for Europe and can be consulted directly.
Using the correct code matters practically: an error can misroute documents or delay clearance. Treating UN/LOCODE as the definitive way to name a Cuban port, and checking it against the source, is a small step that keeps shipping paperwork accurate and machine-readable across the whole international supply chain.
The codes are also useful as a simple index to the country's maritime geography. Running down the CU entries gives a compact roster of where seaborne trade actually happens on the island, from the flagship container gateway to the regional and industrial harbours. For anyone studying Cuban ports, the UN/LOCODE list is both a practical tool and a convenient map of the whole system in five-character form.