Esmeraldas is a coastal city in northwestern
Ecuador. It is the seat of the
Esmeraldas Canton and capital of the
Esmeraldas Province. It has an international sea
port and a small airport (
IATA location identifier: ESM). Esmeraldas is the major seaport of northwestern Ecuador, and it lies on the Pacific coast at the mouth of the
Esmeraldas River. It is exactly at the
antipodes of
Padang, Indonesia. The city is the principal trading hub for the region's agricultural and lumber resources, and is the terminus of the 313-mile (504-km) Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline from the oil fields in northeastern Ecuador.