Port
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A port is a facility for receiving ships and transferring cargo. They are usually situated at the edge of an ocean, sea, river, or lake. Ports often have cargo-handling equipment such as cranes (operated by longshoremen) and forklifts for use in loading/unloading of ships, which may be provided by private interests or public bodies. Often, canneries or other processing facilities will be located near by. Harbour pilots and tugboats are often used to maneuver large ships in tight quarters as they approach and leave the docks. Ports which handle international traffic have customs facilities.
The terms "port" and "seaport" are used for ports that handle ocean-going vessels, and "river port" is used for facilities that handle river traffic, such as barges and other shallow draft vessels. Some ports on a lake, river, or canal have access to a sea or ocean, and are sometimes called "inland ports". A "fishing port" is a type of port or harbor facility particularly suitable for landing and distributing fish. A "dry port" is a term sometimes used to describe a yard used to place containers or conventional bulk cargo, usually connected to a seaport by rail or road. A "warm water port" is a port where the water does not freeze in winter. Because they are available year-round, warm water ports can be of great geopolitical or economic interest, with the ports of Saint Petersburg and Valdez being notable examples. A "port of call" is an intermediate stop, for example to collect supplies or fuel.
Cargo containers allow efficient transport and distribution by eliminating loading of smaller packages at each transportation point, and allowing the shipping unit to be sealed for its entire journey. Standard containers can easily be loaded on a ship, train, truck, or airplane, greatly simplifying intermodal transfers. Cargo often arrives by train and truck to be consolidated at a port and loaded onto a large container ship for international transport. At the destination port, it is distributed by ground transport.
Ports and shipping containers are a vital part of modern Just In Time inventory management strategies.
Ports sometimes fall out of use. Rye, East Sussex, England, UK was an important port in the Middle Ages, but the coastline changed and it is now 2 miles (3.2 km) from the sea. Also in the UK, London on the River Thames, and Manchester, on the Manchester Ship Canal, were once important international ports, but changes in shipping methods, such as the use of containers and larger ships, put them at a disadvantage.
[edit] Major World Ports
- See also: World's busiest port and List of seaports
- Port of Amirabad
- Port of Amsterdam
- Port of Antwerp
- Port of Anzali
- Port of Ashdod
- Port of Baltimore
- Port of Bandar Abbas
- Port of Belgrade
- Port of Bilbao
- Port of Boston
- Port of Brisbane
- Port of Bruges-Zeebrugge
- Port of Busan
- Port of Bushehr
- Port of Callao
- Port Canaveral
- Port of Casablanca
- Port of Chabahar
- Port of Charleston
- Port of Chennai
- Port of Chiba
- Port of Chicago
- Port of Chittagong
- Port of Colon
- Port of Constanţa
- Port of Cork
- Port of Dakar
- Port of Djibouti
- Port of Dover
- Port of Dubai
- Port of Duluth
- Port of Durban
- Port of Eilat
- Port of Erdemir
- Port Everglades
- Port of Felixstowe
- Port of Gwadar
- Port of Gordy
- Port of Göteborg/Gothenburg
- Port of Guangzhou
- Port of Haifa
- Port of Halifax
- Port of Hamburg
- Port of Hong Kong
- Port of Houston
- Port of Imam Khomeini
- Port of Incheon
- Port of Istanbul
- Port of Jeddah
- Port of Kaohsiung
- Port of Karachi
- Port of Kelang (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
- Port of Khorramshahr
- Port of Kobe
- Port of Kolkata
- Port of Kuantan
- Port of La Crosse
- Port of Lisbon
- Port of Liverpool
- Port of London
- Port of Long Beach
- Port of Longview, Washington
- Port of Los Angeles
- Port of Manila
- Port of Melbourne
- Port of Miami
- Port of Milwaukee
- Port of Mobile
- Port of Montréal
- Port of Mumbai
- Port of Nagoya
- Port of New Orleans
- Port of New York/New Jersey
- Nhava Sheva (Near Mumbai, India)
- Port of Noushahr
- Port of Oakland
- Port of Osaka
- Port of Philadelphia
- Port of Piraeus
- Port of Pittsburgh
- Port of Portland (Oregon)
- Port of Prince Rupert
- Port of Rijeka
- Port of Rotterdam
- Port of St. Augustine, the oldest port in the U.S.
- Port of San Diego
- Port of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Sans Souci, the first in America.
- Port of Santos
- Port of Savannah
- Port of Seattle/Port of Tacoma
- Shahid Rajaee Port
- Port of Shanghai
- Port of Shenzhen
- Port of Singapore
- Port of South Louisiana
- Port of Southampton
- Port of Subic
- Port of Tampa
- Port of Tokyo
- Port of Toronto
- Port of Valparaiso
- Port of Vancouver
- Port of Vigo
- Port of Yokohama
- Sialkot Dry Port
[edit] See also
Water port topics
- Harbour
- Marina - port for recreational boating
- Ship transport
- Transport
- Fishing
- Bandar (Persian word for "port" or "haven")
- Home Port Doctrine (United States)
- United States ports
Other types of ports
Companies
- Hutchison Port Holdings
- Dubai Ports World
- Port of Portland
- South African Port Operations
- see Port operator
Support to seafarers
- International Christian Maritime Association (Christian port chaplaincies)
- Sea rescue organisations
- International Committee on Seafarers' Welfare [1]
[edit] External links
- Port Industry Statistics, American Association of Port Authorities
- World Port Rankings 2005, by metric tons and by TEUs, American Association of Port Authorities (xls format, 26.5kb)
- World ports database at www.portvision.be
- Information on 1,613 ports in 191 countries from Noonsite.com
- Seaport codes 2002 Seaport codes around the World - IATA 3 Letter Sea Port Codes
- Social & Economic Benefits of PORTS from "NOAA Socioeconomics" website initiative