The Port of Boston (
AMS Seaport Code
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...
: 0401,
UN/LOCODE
UN/LOCODE, the United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations, is a geographic coding scheme developed and maintained by United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). UN/LOCODE assigns codes to locations used in trade and transpor ...
: US BOS) is a major
seaport
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...
located in
Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States.
History
...
and adjacent to the
City of Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...
. It is the largest port in
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
and one of the principal ports on the
East Coast of the United States.
The Port of Boston was historically important for the growth of the City of Boston, and was originally located in what is now the downtown area of the city, called
Long Wharf.
Land reclamation and conversion to other uses means that the downtown area no longer handles commercial traffic, although there is still considerable ferry and leisure usage at Long Wharf. Today the principal cargo handling facilities are located in the Boston neighborhoods of
Charlestown,
East Boston
East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts annexed by the city of Boston in 1637. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Revere, and Chelsea. It is separated from the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown and d ...
, and
South Boston
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformat ...
, and in the neighboring city of
Everett. The Port of Boston has also been an entry point for many
immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...
.
Administration
The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) was created in 1956 by a special act of the
Massachusetts General Court
The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from th ...
; however, the Authority was not enabled until 1959,
[ due to delay in ]bond
Bond or bonds may refer to:
Common meanings
* Bond (finance), a type of debt security
* Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States
* Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemica ...
funding. The Authority is an independent public authority, not a state agency.[ The Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation and Public Works serves as an ex-officio member of the board and the remaining six members are appointed by the ]governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
to staggered seven year terms. Its Board members must be residents of Massachusetts. The Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...
also has a presence with United States Customs and Border Protection
United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilit ...
officers. The port has three areas of activity: cargo, cruises and ferry service.
History
Before the colonization of the Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
, the area served as a trading post for Native Americans in the region. After the establishment of the Boston settlement by John Winthrop
John Winthrop (January 12, 1587/88 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led t ...
in 1630 and the creation of a local shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befo ...
industry, the port served the rapidly expanding American colonies. During that time, trade involved finished goods from England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in exchange for lumber, fully constructed vessels, rum, and salted fish.
With the rapid growth of the Mid-Atlantic colonies in the 1750s, the ports of New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
began to surpass Boston for inter-colony trade. In response, Bostonian merchants established trade with foreign nations besides Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
. This trade led to a huge increase in wealth amongst local Bay State merchants. However, the British government's imposition of regulations restricting trade to Great Britain, combined with newly enacted taxes on the colonists, caused Bostonian merchants to join the more radical elements in American society. After the Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell t ...
, the British Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...
passed the Boston Port Act which shut down the port until the East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
was compensated for the damaged tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...
These actions led to the American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
.
Though economically devastated by the Revolutionary War, the Port of Boston was again prospering with trade with various foreign ports such as Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
. The port's fortunes were further augmented with a navy base at Charlestown. By the mid-19th century, the shipbuilding industry reached its peak as displayed by the clipper ships developed by Donald McKay
Donald McKay (September 4, 1810 – September 20, 1880) was a Canadian-born American designer and builder of sailing ships, famed for his record-setting clippers.
Early life
He was born in Jordan Falls, Shelburne County, on Nova Scotia's ...
. The port also saw many land reclamation projects and the construction of new piers.
With the start of the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
in the United States, activity in the port turned towards trade between the states. Starting in the mid-19th century, the Port of Boston was eclipsed yet again by other eastern seaboard ports such the Port of New York City as local merchant companies were bought out by New York businessmen. In 1956, control of the port was handed to the Massachusetts Port Authority
Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) is an American port authority in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It owns and operates three airports—Logan International Airport, Hanscom Field, and Worcester Regional Airport—and public terminals i ...
(Massport), which began the process of modernizing the port. During the 1980s and 1990s, a project dedicated to the cleanup of Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States.
History
...
was overseen by the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA).
In 1966, Sea-Land introduced containerized shipping and later established one of the first container ports on Castle Island, where Conley Terminal now stands. To meet the growing demand for container shipping, Massport constructed a common-use container port on what is now Moran Terminal. However, the port faced a setback with the closure of the Charlestown Navy Yard in 1974.
In the mid-1990s, the port went through another round of modernization. Container shipping operations were consolidated at Conley Terminal while Moran Terminal was dedicated to automobile shipping. A project of dredging the harbor commenced in 1997. Through the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (Big Dig), ground access to the South Boston
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformat ...
facilities were improved with the extension of I-90 and the construction of the Ted Williams Tunnel
The Ted Williams Tunnel is a highway tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts. The third in the city to travel under Boston Harbor, with the Sumner Tunnel and the Callahan Tunnel, it carries the final segment of Interstate 90 (the Massachusetts Turnpik ...
linking South Boston
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformat ...
with East Boston
East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts annexed by the city of Boston in 1637. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Revere, and Chelsea. It is separated from the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown and d ...
and Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partial ...
. The port has also seen a burgeoning cruise industry as well as expanding commercial and residential developments on the Boston waterfront.
With the completed Panama Canal expansion project
The Panama Canal expansion project ( es, ampliación del Canal de Panamá), also called the Third Set of Locks Project, doubled the capacity of the Panama Canal by adding a new lane of traffic allowing for a larger number of ships, and increasin ...
allowing larger ships starting in 2016, the is dredging harbor access routes starting in 2017, deepening them from 40 to 47 to 51 feet. This will allow visits by container ships carrying up to 12,000 TEUs, up from 7000 TEUs, and reduce the amount of freight which is expected to be shipped to the Port of New York and New Jersey
The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
It includes the system of navigable water ...
and trucked to Massachusetts. The project is estimated to cost $310 million and is paid for by the federal Water Resources Reform and Development Act (about two-thirds), Massport, and an additional allocation from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. New container cranes to support larger ships were installed in 2021. The first 12,000-TEU-class containership. ''Ever Fortune,'' arrived at Conley on January 16, 2022.
List of Collectors
Port facilities
Ground transportation
The Port of Boston has access to I-90, I-93
Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...
, I-95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...
, and U.S. 1, including a truck-only haul road. Track 61 runs through the port, but is being used by the MBTA as a test track. There is public transit access via the MBTA Silver line
The Silver Line is a system of bus routes in Boston and Chelsea, Massachusetts, operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). It is operated as part of the MBTA bus system, but branded as bus rapid transit (BRT) as part ...
SL2 route.
Massport facilities
The public facilities, operated by the Massport, are located in the neighborhoods of Charlestown, East Boston
East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts annexed by the city of Boston in 1637. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Revere, and Chelsea. It is separated from the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown and d ...
, and South Boston
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformat ...
. These include:
*Flynn Cruiseport Boston
Flynn Cruiseport Boston, formerly known as the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal, is the main port for all cruise ships visiting Boston, Massachusetts. The port is owned and operated by Massport, which operates most of the Port of Boston, and is locate ...
(''South Boston'') - This cruise terminal has been owned and operated by Massport since 1986. Running from April through November, during the 2016 cruise season the port welcomed 114 ships and over 300,000 passengers.[ Cruise destinations from Boston include Bermuda, Canada, Panama, San Diego, and Europe.][ Only vessel passengers are authorized to enter the Terminal's restricted areas; however, cruise-ship activity can be viewed from the Summer Street Bridge over the Reserved Channel and the small park at the southern end of the cruise terminal. In May 2017, the terminal was officially named in honor of former Boston mayor ]Raymond Flynn
Raymond Leo Flynn (born July 22, 1939) is an American politician who served as 52nd Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts from 1984 until 1993. He also served as United States Ambassador to the Holy See from 1993–1997.
Flynn was an All-American c ...
; it previously had been known as the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal, a former cargo building that had been remodeled in 1980, with additional remodelling and expansion in 2010 and 2015.[
*Conley Terminal (''South Boston'') - This terminal serves as the container facility for the Port of Boston. The terminal itself has been in use since ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, when it was known as the Castle Island terminal. After Sea-Land pioneered shipping container
A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of ...
s in the mid-1960s, Castle Island became one of the first such terminals in the country. Massport built a second container terminal (Moran Container Terminal) in nearby Charlestown in the early 1970s.[ After Sea-Land's lease ended in 1980, Massport built a larger terminal on the Castle Island site, later named the Paul W. Conley Container Terminal,][ which opened in 1984. Massport dredged the entrance channel to a depth of in the mid-1990s. Today, the facility is capable of handling Panamax and ]post-Panamax
Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...
container ships. As of 2019, Massport is expanding the facility westward into an adjacent brownfield site once used for oil storage, and has built a new entrance road. In November 2019, it received a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for additional improvements. In calendar year 2018, the terminal handled over 298,000 TEU's, up from 237,166 in 2015. Volumes have dropped dramatically due to the Covid-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, but are expected to rebound as supply chain problems resolve and additional carriers serve the port.
:In June 2021, the terminal received three new ship-to-shore container cranes built in China, including two that are 205 feet high. In June 2022, the US Army Corp of Engineers completed a $350 million dredging project that will allow post-Panamax
Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...
ships to dock without waiting for high tide. The CSX railroad's double-stack container terminal in Worcester is an hour and half drive from the terminal. The improvements resulted in additional shipping routes tripling the number of ports that ship goods to and from Conley. The state has proposed extending Track 61 to connect Conley to the national rail network, to eliminate this as a competitive disadvantage compared to other East Coast ports, however land for a container to rail terminal nearby would be difficult to find and current rail clearances do not allow double-stack operations.
*Boston Autoport (''Charlestown'') - Now dedicated exclusively to the processing and shipping of automobiles, this site once served as the common-use Moran Container Terminal.
* Boston Fish Pier (''South Boston'') - The oldest continuously operated fish pier in the United States, this facility houses companies dedicated to the processing and shipment of seafood.
Non-Massport facilities
The Port of Boston has facilities dedicated to bulk cargo, petroleum, and LNG shipment and storage. These are primarily located on the Mystic River, notably along the city of Everett waterfront as well as the Chelsea River area of East Boston
East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts annexed by the city of Boston in 1637. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Revere, and Chelsea. It is separated from the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown and d ...
, Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
, and Revere. The Chelsea River depots also contain facilities handling jet fuel for Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partial ...
. The Deer Island Waste Water Treatment Plant
The Deer Island Waste Water Treatment Plant (also known as Deer Island Sewage Treatment Plant) is located on Deer Island, one of the Boston Harbor Islands in Boston Harbor. The plant is operated by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority ( ...
, whose egg-shaped sludge digesters are major landmarks, ships treated sludge across the harbor by barge for further processing into fertilizer.
The US Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...
has a base in Boston, and the sail frigate USS Constitution
USS ''Constitution'', also known as ''Old Ironsides'', is a three-masted wooden-hulled heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She is the world's oldest ship still afloat. She was launched in 1797, one of six original frigates authorized ...
("Old Ironsides") is berthed at the former Charlestown Navy Yard, now part of the Boston National Historical Park. The park is also home to the USS Cassin Young
USS ''Cassin Young'' (DD-793) is a of the U.S. Navy named for Captain Cassin Young (1894–1942), who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism at the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and killed in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in the fa ...
, a World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
-era Fletcher-class destroyer
The ''Fletcher'' class was a class of destroyers built by the United States during World War II. The class was designed in 1939, as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types of the and classes. Some went on to serve ...
and now a museum ship. The park's Drydock
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
Number 1 was completed in 1833 and first used by the ''Constitution.'' It is now used to overhaul historic ships, including ''Constitution'' in 1992 and ''Cassin Young'' in 2007. Two other pre-World War II-era dry docks in the harbor are still operational (as of 2014), including Dry Dock Number 3 — one of the largest dry docks on the U.S. East Coast — which regularly repairs ships for the Military Sealift Command. These are located at the former South Boston Naval Annex.
MBTA Boat, water taxi
A water taxi or a water bus is a watercraft used to provide public or private transport, usually, but not always, in an urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a similar manner to a bus, or o ...
s, and private ferries and small cruise boats also use docks at Rowes Wharf
The current incarnation of Rowes Wharf (built 1987) is a modern development in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is best known for the Boston Harbor Hotel's multi-story arch over the wide public plaza between Atlantic Avenue and the Boston Harb ...
, Long Wharf, Boston Navy Yard
The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. It was established in 1801 as part of the recent establishment of t ...
, Logan International Airport, Hewitt's Cove in Hingham, Pemberton Point
Pemberton Point (formerly known as Windmill Point) is a peninsula in Hull, Massachusetts. It is located at the tip of the Nantasket Peninsula, in Boston Harbor.
History
Historic manuscripts have called the location "Windmill Point" since the 182 ...
in Hull, and the Fore River Shipyard
Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on Quincy Point in 1901. I ...
in Quincy, and a number of small docks at destinations around the harbor. The Boston Harborwalk
Boston Harborwalk is a public walkway that follows the edge of piers, wharves, beaches, and shoreline around Boston Harbor. When fully completed it will extend a distance of from East Boston to the Neponset River.
History
The Harborwalk is a coo ...
provides public access to much of the harbor's edge.
Piers and wharves
Boston's port was historically served by many more wharves and pier facilities. Although Massport maintain the more notable ones, a handful of docking facilities in the Boston Harbor are maintained by private interests or other state agencies such as DCR. Further, some wharves have been converted to residential condominiums, or hotel accommodations.
The Port's current and former wharves include:
;Piers
* Boston Fish Pier
* Commonwealth Pier
* Fan Pier
* Piers Park
* Piers Park Sailing Center
* Windmill Pier
;Wharves
* Battery Wharf
* Burroughs Wharf
* Central Wharf
* Children's Wharf
* Commercial Wharf
*Constellation Wharf
A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object.
The origins of the earliest constellation ...
* Constitution Wharf
* Flagship Wharf
* Griffin's Wharf
*India Wharf
India Wharf (1804-c. 1962) in Boston, Massachusetts, flourished in the 19th century, when it was one of the largest commercial wharves in the port. The structure began in 1804 to accommodate international trade at a time when several other improve ...
* Lewis Wharf
* Lincoln Wharf
* Long Wharf
* Lovejoy Wharf
*Rowes Wharf
The current incarnation of Rowes Wharf (built 1987) is a modern development in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is best known for the Boston Harbor Hotel's multi-story arch over the wide public plaza between Atlantic Avenue and the Boston Harb ...
*Russia Wharf
Russia Wharf is a completed high-rise building in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. The building rises and contains 32 floors. Construction began in 2006 and was finished in early 2011; as such, the structure is one of the most recently completed ...
* Sargent's Wharf
* T Wharf
* Union Wharf
Foreign Trade Zone
Massport manages Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) No. 27, which includes many privately owned and port-owned sites located throughout Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
The following Sub Zones are a part of The Port of Boston FTZ No. 27:
* 27C Lawrence Textile
* 27D GM
* 27E Polaroid
* 27F Polaroid
* 27H Polaroid
* 27I Polaroid
* 27J Polaroid
* 27K Polaroid
* 27L AstraZeneca LP
* 27M Reebok International
* 27N Spectro Coating Corporation d/b/a Claremont Flock, LLC
Traffic and statistics
In 2015, the port handled 237,000 container
A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping.
Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...
TEUs, 60,000 automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarde ...
s, and 121,000 metric tons of cement
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...
. Other major forms of cargo processed at the port include petroleum
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...
, liquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the vol ...
(LNG), gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywal ...
, and salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...
. There were 328,305 cruise ship
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...
passengers that year. Some 114 vessel calls are scheduled for the 2016 cruise season.
In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, there have been concerns about the security of LNG
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...
shipments within Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States.
History
...
, and increased fear of terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
. Because of the location of the LNG terminal in the Mystic River, tankers traveling to and from the facility are forced to pass directly offshore of downtown Boston. During their voyage through the harbor, they are protected by a security zone that extends in front of the vessel, behind it, and more than half a mile on either side. This zone is enforced by escort vessels provided by the Coast Guard
A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...
and State Police. The Tobin Bridge
The Maurice J. Tobin Memorial Bridge (formerly the Mystic River Bridge) is a cantilever truss bridge that spans more than two miles (3 km) from Boston to Chelsea over the Mystic River in Massachusetts. The bridge is the largest in New Eng ...
is closed as the escort passes under it, and boating is forbidden within the security zone. , there have been proposals to construct an offshore LNG facility on either Outer Brewster Island Outer Brewster Island, also known as Outward Island, is one of the outer islands in the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area and is situated some 10 miles offshore of downtown Boston. The island has a permanent size of 20 acres, and consi ...
in the Harbor, or further afield in the wider Massachusetts Bay
Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Maine that forms part of the central coastline of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Description
The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about . Its ...
.
The MBTA operates commuter boats between Long Wharf and Rowes Wharf
The current incarnation of Rowes Wharf (built 1987) is a modern development in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is best known for the Boston Harbor Hotel's multi-story arch over the wide public plaza between Atlantic Avenue and the Boston Harb ...
on the downtown Boston waterfront to Hingham, Hull, Quincy, and Logan Airport as well as inner harbor ferries between downtown Boston, Charlestown, and South Boston. Other fast passenger ferries operate to Provincetown
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Province ...
and Salem. Several companies operate cruise ship
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...
s on the harbor, whilst water taxi
A water taxi or a water bus is a watercraft used to provide public or private transport, usually, but not always, in an urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a similar manner to a bus, or o ...
s operate from various points on the downtown Boston waterfront, Logan Airport, Charlestown, East Boston, and South Boston. Ferries are also provided for travel amongst the harbor islands.
There are occasionally marine accidents, as with a commuter ferry ''Massachusetts'' going from Boston's Rowes Wharf to Hull in June 2006.
Port Police
The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), which itself was constituted in 1956 maintains its own police force of POST certified and sworn law enforcement officer
A law enforcement officer (LEO), or peace officer in North American English, is a public-sector employee whose duties primarily involve the enforcement of laws. The phrase can include campaign disclosure specialists, local police officers, ...
s of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They work in conjunction with the Massachusetts State Police
The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, responsible for criminal law enforcement and traffic vehicle regulation across the state. As of 10/4/2022, it ...
—Troop F who also provide law enforcement services for Massport. Massport police officers also known as "Port Officers" are responsible for physical security and law enforcement at the marine terminals, Boston's Seaport District, East Boston parks and various other properties and lands owned by the authority.
International seaports agreements
* – Port of Dalian
The Port of Dalian (38° 55' N 121° 41' E) founded in 1899 lies at the southern tip of Liaodong Peninsula in Liaoning province and is the most northern ice-free port in China. It is also the largest multi-purpose port in Northeast China serving t ...
, China (2005)
* – Panama Canal Authority
The Panama Canal Authority ( es, Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP)) is the agency of the government of Panama responsible for the operation and management of the Panama Canal. The ACP took over the administration of the canal from the Panama ...
, Panama (2005) ''Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)''
See also
* Transport in Boston
* List of North American ports
* United States ports (List
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
)
* List of world's busiest container ports
This article lists the world's busiest container ports (ports with container terminals that specialize in handling goods transported in intermodal shipping containers), by total number of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) transported through t ...
* :Collectors of the Port of Boston
* United States container ports
The United States has more than 20 container ports around its coastline.
Global supply chain disruption
The supply chains that were disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic faced huge challenges and struggled to recover. Industries around the ...
References
Specific
General
#Banner, David
"The History of Boston, Massachusetts." ''BOSTON HISTORY''
1997-2005. May 8, 2005.
#Jourgensen, Thor (May 9, 2005)
Council to review LNG line project
''The Daily Item of Lynn.'' May 10, 2005.
"Boston Harbor and Approaches." ''Coast Pilot 1 - 35th Edition, 2005''
NOAA Office of Coast Survey. 35th Edition. May 15, 2005.
May 2005.
May 2005.
May 2005.
May 16, 2005.
Boston Pilot Association
->
External links
Flynn Cruiseport Boston
at Massachusetts Port Authority
Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) is an American port authority in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It owns and operates three airports—Logan International Airport, Hanscom Field, and Worcester Regional Airport—and public terminals i ...
Conley Container Terminal
at Massachusetts Port Authority
Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) is an American port authority in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It owns and operates three airports—Logan International Airport, Hanscom Field, and Worcester Regional Airport—and public terminals i ...
Boston Harbor soundings map
at NOAA
Boston Inner Harbor soundings map
at NOAA
The Boston Harbor Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Port Of Boston
Boston Harbor
Massachusetts Port Authority
Geography of Boston
Infrastructure in Boston
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
Transportation in Boston
Maritime history of the United States