Sydney Harbour ( Mi'kmawi'simk: ''L'sipuktuk'') is the 10-mile long Y-shaped

inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In marine geogra ...

of the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, oriented southwest-northeast on the northeast shore of

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. At its upper reaches, the harbour forks to form 2 arms, the Northwest Arm and the South Arm. The South Arm is fed upstream by the

Sydney River The Sydney River is a short river located in Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Historically, it was also referred to as the Spanish River from the 18th century Early modern France, French name for its estua ...

. Sydney Harbour is the maritime hub for the

Cape Breton Regional Municipality Cape Breton Regional Municipality (often referred to as simply "CBRM") is the Canadian province of Nova Scotia's second largest municipality and the economic heart of Cape Breton Island. As of 2016 the municipality has a population of 94,285. The ...

. The South Arm affords year-round ice-free deep-water anchorage for large ships, including

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 ...

s. The harbour's east shore formerly held a

coke (fuel) Coke is a grey, hard, and porous coal-based fuel with a high carbon content and few impurities, made by heating coal or oil in the absence of air—a destructive distillation process. It is an important industrial product, used mainly in iro ...

and

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finish ...

belonging to the

Sydney Steel Corporation Sydney Steel Corporation (SYSCO) was a Crown corporation in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It owned and operated a steel mill in Sydney. Early history of steelmaking in Sydney An integrated steel mill was established on the southeast side ...

, operating from 1901-2001 with peak production from 1960-1980. Muggah Creek, near the steel mill, transported material (including

polychlorinated biphenyl Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...

) into the Sydney Harbour, resulting in the area around the mouth of the creek to have some of the most contaminated

marine sediment Marine sediment, or ocean sediment, or seafloor sediment, are deposits of insoluble particles that have accumulated on the seafloor. These particles have their origins in soil and rocks and have been transported from the land to the sea, mainly ...

known (as of 2003). The harbour underwent major

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

in 2011, clearing the channel to 17-meter depth and making it accessible to large

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

s. Five port facilities currently operate on the shores of Sydney Harbour: the International Coal Pier, Nova Scotia Lands, Sydney Marine Terminal, Sydport Industrial Park ( Edwardsville) and Marine Atlantic ( North Sydney). The sixth, the new

container terminal A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example train ...

, NOVAPORTE™ Mega-Terminal, is being planned for Edwardsville.

References

{{reflist ;Notes *

Nautical chart A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a sea area and adjacent coastal regions. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water and heights of land (topographic map), natural features of the seabed, details of the coa ...

br>#4266 ''SYDNEY HARBOUR''
published by

Canadian Hydrographic Service ''Retired Canadian Hydrographic Service logo or crest'' The Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) is part of the federal department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and is Canada's authoritative hydrographic office. The CHS represents Canada in t ...

, 28 February 2014 Ports and harbours of Nova Scotia