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A port is a
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cargo._Although_usually_situated_on_a_sea_coast_or_estuary,_some_ports,_such_as_[[Port_of_Hamburg">Hamburg,_[[Port_of_Manchester.html" style="text-decoration: none;"class="mw-redirect" title="Affreightment">cargo. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, some ports, such as
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Ports are extremely important to the global economy, responsible for 70% of global merchandise trade by value.
For this reason, ports are often high-concentrations of the global population—providing the labor for processing and handling the goods and related services for the ports. Today, by far the greatest growth in port development is in Asia, the continent with some of the
world's largest and busiest ports, such as
Singapore and the
Chinese ports of
Shanghai and
Ningbo-Zhoushan. As of 2020, the
busiest passenger port in the world is the
Port of Helsinki in
Finland. However, ports can also be very small and only serve local fishing or tourism.
Ports are responsible for a number of environmental impacts on local ecologies and water ways, for example direct effects on water quality, caused by dredging, spills and other pollution. Ports are heavily effected by the changing environmental factors caused by
climate change. Importantly most port infrastructure is extremely vulnerable to
sea level rise, due to its low-lying nature, making it vulnerable to
extreme weather and
coastal flooding.
Internationally, global ports are beginning to identify ways to improve
coastal management practices and integrate
climate change adaptation practices into their construction.
Historical ports
Whenever ancient civilisations engaged in maritime trade, they tended to develop sea ports. One of the world's oldest known artificial harbors is at
Wadi al-Jarf on the
Red Sea.
Along with the finding of harbor structures, ancient anchors have also been found.
Other ancient ports include
Guangzhou during
Qin Dynasty China and
Canopus, the principal Egyptian port for Greek trade before the foundation of
Alexandria. In ancient Greece, Athens' port of
Piraeus was the base for the Athenian fleet which played a crucial role in the
Battle of Salamis against the Persians in 480 BCE. In ancient India from 3700 BCE,
Lothal was a prominent city of the Indus valley civilisation, located in the Bhāl region of the modern state of
Gujarāt.
Ostia Antica was the port of ancient Rome with
Portus established by
Claudius and enlarged by
Trajan to supplement the nearby port of Ostia. In Japan, during the
Edo period, the island of
Dejima was the only port open for trade with Europe and received only a single Dutch ship per year, whereas
Osaka was the largest domestic port and the main trade hub for rice.
Post-classical
Swahili kingdoms are known to have had trade port islands and trade routes with the Islamic world and Asia. They were described by Greek historians as "metropolises". Famous African trade ports such as
Mombasa,
Zanzibar,
Mogadishu and
Kilwa were known to Chinese sailors such as
Zheng He and medieval Islamic historians such as the Berber Islamic voyager
Abu Abdullah ibn Battuta.
Nowadays, many of these ancient sites no longer exist or function as modern ports. Even in more recent times, ports sometimes fall out of use.
Rye, East Sussex, was an important English port in the Middle Ages, but the coastline changed and it is now from the sea, while the ports of
Ravenspurn and
Dunwich have been lost to
coastal erosion.
Modern ports
Whereas early ports tended to be just simple harbours, modern ports tend to be
multimodal distribution
hubs, with transport links using sea, river, canal, road, rail and air routes. Successful ports are located to optimize access to an active
hinterland, such as the
London Gateway. Ideally, a port will grant
easy navigation to ships, and will give shelter from wind and waves. Ports are often on estuaries, where the water may be shallow and may need regular
dredging. Deep water ports such as
Milford Haven are less common, but can handle larger ships with a greater draft, such as
super tankers,
Post-Panamax vessels and large
container ships. Other businesses such as
regional distribution centres, warehouses and freight-forwarders,
canneries and other processing facilities find it advantageous to be located within a port or nearby. Modern ports will have specialised
cargo-handling equipment, such as
gantry cranes,
reach stackers and
forklift trucks.
Ports usually have specialised functions: some tend to cater mainly for
passenger ferries and
cruise ships; some specialise in
container traffic or general cargo; and some ports play an important military role for their nation's navy. Some third world countries and small islands such as
Ascension and
St Helena still have limited port facilities, so that ships must anchor off while their cargo and passengers are taken ashore by
barge or
launch (respectively).
In modern times, ports survive or decline, depending on current economic trends. In the UK, both the ports of
Liverpool and
Southampton were once significant in the transatlantic passenger liner business. Once airliner traffic decimated that trade, both ports diversified to container cargo and cruise ships. Up until the 1950s the
Port of London was a major international port on the
River Thames, but changes in shipping and the use of containers and larger ships, have led to its decline.
Thamesport, a small semi-automated container port (with links to the
Port of Felixstowe, the UK's largest container port) thrived for some years, but has been hit hard by competition from the emergent London Gateway port and logistics hub.
In mainland Europe, it is normal for ports to be publicly owned, so that, for instance, the ports of
Rotterdam and
Amsterdam are owned partly by the state and partly by the cities themselves. By contrast, in the UK all ports are in private hands, such as
Peel Ports who own the Port of Liverpool,
John Lennon Airport and the
Manchester Ship Canal.
Even though modern ships tend to have bow-thrusters and stern-thrusters, many port authorities still require vessels to use
pilots and
tugboats for manoeuvering large ships in tight quarters. For instance, ships approaching the Belgian
port of Antwerp, an inland port on the
River Scheldt, are obliged to use Dutch pilots when navigating on that part of the estuary that belongs to the Netherlands.
Ports with international traffic have
customs facilities.
Types
The terms "port" and "seaport" are used for different types of port facilities that handle ocean-going vessels, and river port is used for river traffic, such as
barges and other shallow-draft vessels.
Seaport
A seaport is a port located on the shore of a sea or ocean. It is further categorized as a "cruise port" or a "cargo port". Additionally, "cruise ports" are also known as a "home port" or a "port of call". The "cargo port" is also further categorized into a "bulk" or "break bulk port" or as a "container port".
Cargo port
Cargo ports, on the other hand, are quite different from cruise ports, because each handles very different cargo, which has to be loaded and unloaded by very different mechanical means. The port may handle one particular type of cargo or it may handle numerous cargoes, such as grains, liquid fuels, liquid chemicals, wood, automobiles, etc. Such ports are known as the "bulk" or "break bulk ports". Those ports that handle containerized cargo are known as container ports. Most cargo ports handle all sorts of cargo, but some ports are very specific as to what cargo they handle. Additionally, the individual cargo ports are divided into different operating terminals which handle the different cargoes, and are operated by different companies, also known as terminal operators or
stevedores.
Cruise home port
A cruise home port is the port where cruise ship passengers board (or
embark) to start their cruise and
disembark the cruise ship at the end of their cruise. It is also where the cruise ship's supplies are loaded for the cruise, which includes everything from fresh water and fuel to fruits, vegetables, champagne, and any other supplies needed for the cruise. "Cruise home ports" are very busy places during the day the cruise ship is in port, because off-going passengers debark their baggage and on-coming passengers board the ship in addition to all the supplies being loaded. Cruise home ports tend to have large
passenger terminals to handle the large number of passengers passing through the port. The busiest cruise home port in the world is the
Port of Miami,
Florida.
Smart port
A smart port uses technologies, including the
Internet of Things (IoT),
artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain to be more efficient at handling goods. Smart ports usually deploy cloud-based software as part of the process of greater automation to help generate the operating flow that helps the port work smoothly. At present, most of the world's ports have somewhat embedded technology, if not for full leadership. However, thanks to global government initiatives and exponential growth in maritime trade, the amount of intelligent ports has gradually increased. This latest report by business intelligence provider Visiongain assesses that Smart Ports Market spending will reach $1.5 bn in 2019.
Port of call
A port of call is an intermediate stop for a ship on its sailing itinerary. At these ports, cargo ships may take on supplies or fuel, as well as unloading and loading cargo while cruise liners have passengers get on or off ship.
Fishing port
A fishing port is a port or
harbor for landing and distributing fish. It may be a recreational facility, but it is usually commercial. A fishing port is the only port that depends on an ocean product, and depletion of fish may cause a fishing port to be uneconomical.
Inland port
An inland port is a port on a navigable lake, river (fluvial port), or canal with access to a sea or ocean, which therefore allows a ship to sail from the ocean inland to the port to load or unload its cargo. An example of this is the
St. Lawrence Seaway which allows ships to travel from the Atlantic Ocean several thousand kilometers inland to Great Lakes ports like
Toronto,
Duluth-Superior, and
Chicago. The term "inland port" is also used for
dry ports.
Warm-water port
A warm-water port is one where the water does not freeze in wintertime. Because they are available year-round, warm-water ports can be of great geopolitical or economic interest. Such settlements as
Dalian in China,
Vostochny Port,
Murmansk and
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Russia,
Odessa in Ukraine,
Kushiro in Japan and
Valdez at the terminus of the
Alaska Pipeline owe their very existence to being ice-free ports. The Baltic Sea and similar areas have ports available year-round beginning in the 20th century thanks to
icebreakers, but earlier access problems prompted Russia to expand its territory to the
Black Sea.
Dry port
A dry port is an inland
intermodal terminal directly connected by
road or
rail to a seaport and operating as a centre for the
transshipment of sea cargo to inland destinations.
Environmental issues
Ports and their operation are often both the cause of environmental issues, such as sediment contamination and spills from ships and are susceptible to larger environmental issues, such as human caused climate change and its effects.
Dredging
Every year 100 million cubic metrics of marine sediment are dredged to improve waterways around ports. Dredging, in its practice, disturbs local ecosystems, brings sediments into the water column, and can stir up pollutants captured in the sediments.
Invasive species
Invasive species are often spread by the
bilge water and species attached to the hulls of ships.
Air pollution
Ports are also a source of increased air pollution both because of the ships and land transportation at the port. Transportation corridors around ports have higher exhaust and emissions and this can have related health effects on the local communities.
Water quality
Water quality around ports is often lower because of both direct and indirect pollution from the shipping, and other challenges caused by the port's community, such as trash washing into the ocean.
Spills, pollution and contamination
Sewage from ships, and leaks of oil and chemicals from shipping vessels can contaminate local water, and cause other effects like nutrient pollution in the water.
Climate change and sea level rise
Ports and their infrastructure are very
vulnerable to climate change and sea level rise, because many of them are in low-lying areas designed for status quo water levels.
Variable weather, coastal erosion, and sea level rise all put pressure on existing infrastructure, resulting in
subsidence,
coastal flooding and other direct pressures on the port.
Reducing impact
There are several initiatives to decrease negative environmental impacts of ports.
The
World Port Sustainability Program points to all of the Sustainable Development Goals as potential ways of addressing port sustainability. These include
SIMPYC, the
World Ports Climate Initiative, the
African Green Port Initiative,
EcoPorts and
Green Marine.
World's major ports
Africa
*The port of
Tangier Med is the largest port on the Mediterranean and in Africa by capacity and went into service in July 2007.
*The busiest port in Africa is
Port Said in Egypt.
Asia

The
port of Shanghai is the largest port in the world in both
cargo tonnage and activity. It regained its position as the
world's busiest port by cargo tonnage and the
world's busiest container port in 2009 and 2010, respectively. It is followed by the ports of
Singapore,
Hong Kong and
Kaohsiung,
Taiwan, all of which are in
East and
Southeast Asia.
Europe

Europe's busiest container port and biggest port by cargo tonnage by far is the
Port of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands. It is followed by the Belgian
Port of Antwerp or the German
Port of Hamburg, depending on which metric is used. In turn, the Spanish
Port of Valencia is the busiest port in the Mediterranean basin.
North America
The largest ports include the
Port of New York and New Jersey,
Los Angeles and
South Louisiana in the U.S.,
Manzanillo in Mexico and
Vancouver in Canada.
Panama also has the
Panama Canal that connects the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, and is a key conduit for international trade.
Oceania
The largest port in Australia is the
Port of Melbourne.
South America
According to
ECLAC's "Maritime and Logistics Profile of Latin America and the Caribbean", the largest ports in South America are the
Port of Santos in Brazil,
Cartagena in Colombia,
Callao in Peru,
Guayaquil in Ecuador, and the
Port of Buenos Aires in Argentina.
See also
*
Anchorage (shipping)
*
Megaproject
*
Marina - port for recreational boating
*
Port management
*
Port operator
*
Ship transport
Other logistics hubs
*
Airport
*
Spaceport
*
Port of entry
Lists
*
Lists of ports
*
List of busiest cruise ports by passengers
References
External links
Port Industry Statistics, American Association of Port AuthoritiesInformation on yachting facilities at ports around the world from Noonsite.comSocial & Economic Benefits of PORTSfrom "NOAA Socioeconomics" website initiative
* Antunes, Cátia
''Early Modern Ports, 1500-1750'' European History Online, Mainz:
Institute of European History, 2011, retrieved: November 2, 2011.
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