Ports and Harbours
Ports and harbors are the main ports and outlets for international trade. Through them, goods and passengers are transported from one end of the world to the other. A port is any protected body of water where ships can dock or anchor. Ports are facilities built around ports for loading and unloading ships’ cargo.
Usually, a natural or artificial port must already exist before port facilities can be built. Some large ports, such as San Francisco Bay on the California coast, are used by multiple ports. Some ports, such as the Port of Chicago, Illinois, on Lake Michigan, serve many smaller ports.
The main requirements for a good port are direct access to open water and sufficient depth for ships to enter and exit safely. Ports are usually 40 feet or more deep. Ports must be well protected from storms and high waves. The bottom of the port should provide a good surface for ships to anchor – it should not be too rocky, sandy, or muddy. The port must also be wide enough for ships to dock and maneuver. Currents and tides should not be too strong.
Types of ports
Ports are classified according to their location and structure. Natural coastal ports include a marine barrier such as a bay (e.g., New York City) or an island (Hong Kong, China). Coastal breakwater ports are protected by one or more artificial breakwaters (Casablanca, Morocco). Tide-gate ports have locks that enclose parts of the port at high tide. When the tide recedes, the water leaves the port, and the water level in the enclosed area remains constant. Tide gates are essential in the Port of Liverpool, England, because the port has a tidal range of about 21 feet.
Natural river ports (New Orleans, Louisiana) are protected from storms by the narrowness of the river channel. Ports on riverbanks (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) have ramps dug into the riverbank to accommodate ships. Ports on lakes or canals (Bruges, Belgium) are located on small lakes or artificial canals connected to open water by navigable waterways. Open ports on highways may function as harbors but do not provide much protection from storms. There are many ports of this type along the coast of Africa.
Port Components and Structures
A breakwater is a large wall-like structure that partially surrounds a port and protects it from waves and currents. It can provide complete shelter to a port or supplement the protection it has in its natural state. Breakwaters are made of stone, concrete, or crushed stone. There are breakwaters in ports, which are less important than breakwaters in controlling water flow or sediment deposition. They are usually made of wood, steel plates, or concrete.
Buoys mark port channels. They are floating objects fixed to the seabed. A pier is the part of a port where ships dock. Many narrow ports, especially those on rivers, have turning piers where ships can turn around.
Ports are classified according to the type of traffic they handle. Industrial ports transport bulk cargoes—grain, sugar, ore, oil, chemicals, and similar materials. Commercial ports handle general cargoes (such as packaged products and manufactured goods) in addition to passenger traffic. Comprehensive ports handle large quantities of bulk and general cargo. Most of the major ports in the world are classified as comprehensive ports.
Where are ports developing?
The development of a port into an economically prosperous port depends on several basic conditions. The adjacent land area should be suitable for constructing piers, berths, loading and unloading facilities, and warehouses. The surrounding area must be geographically favorable to develop population centers and supporting industries such as railroads and ship repair. There must be an inland area with good transportation to provide products for export and markets for imports.
Dredging rivers and building canals transformed inland cities into seaports. Manchester, England, is connected to the sea by the Mersey River and a 35-mile canal so ships can unload directly at the city’s factories. Hamburg, Germany, is 75 miles from the North Sea and has become a major port due to ongoing dredging that deepened the Elbe Canal. Houston, Texas, is connected to the Gulf of Mexico by a canal.
The Port of Chicago is primarily used for shipping in the Great Lakes region but also handles cargo brought in through tributaries of the Mississippi River. The completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 made all ports on the Great Lakes accessible to ocean-going ships. This was achieved by dredging the shallow waters of the waterway (at least 27 feet deep).
Cargo handling; correctional facilities
When a ship arrives at a port, it may be assigned a berth, a mooring space along a quay or wharf. A quay, sometimes called a wharf (pronounced kē), runs parallel to the coast. The wharf runs lengthwise to the port.
Solid bulk cargoes such as coal and limestone are usually loaded onto ships from storage yards on shore by conveyor belts. Iron ore is usually shipped from ore docks. These are elevated railways equipped with chutes that deliver the ore into the holds of waiting ships. Grain is loaded from docks or floating lifts by chutes. Solid bulk cargoes are usually unloaded using mechanical shovels or conveyor systems. Large “vacuums” are often used to unload grain, coconuts, and similar bulk cargoes. Liquid bulk cargoes are transferred between shore tanks and ships by hoses.
Transshipment sheds at docks or ports can be used to store general cargoes. People who load and unload general cargo are called dockworkers or harbor hands. General cargoes are usually handled by cranes on deck. However, cargo weighing hundreds of tons is usually handled by cranes on the dock or floating cranes on barges alongside the ship. Gantry cranes on the dock bring semi-trailer-sized containers from container ships to the dock.
Ports in open seaports are usually too shallow for ocean-going ships to reach coastal facilities. Cargo and passengers must be transported to and from these ships and the shore by light vessels with shallow drafts. Some ports are built on artificial islands supported by piles.
Oil tanker
All major ports have dry docks and other ship repair facilities. There are two types of dry docks: dry docks and floating dry docks. A dry dock is a concrete pool that can be closed with sealed doors after the ship enters. The water is pumped out or allowed to recede with the tide, and the ship is supported by timber. This makes it easier to repair ship parts that are usually underwater. Floating dry docks are mobile. Increasing or decreasing the amount of water within its hollow side walls can be flooded or raised and moved wherever needed – across oceans if necessary.
Planning, Maintenance, and Operations
Model studies have recently been used in planning ports and harbors for transportation, reclamation, or protection. Scale models of ports, harbors, and surrounding areas were once considered scientific toys. Still, in many cases, they are essential for the large-scale redevelopment of coastal areas or even useful for simple modifications or additions. These models are made so that the way water flows can reproduce the different tidal effects of existing coastal systems.
Several federal and local government agencies are responsible for maintaining ports and operating port facilities in the United States. A port authority allocates berthing and mooring space for ships and operates cargo and passenger terminals. A single port authority governs some large ports with facilities in multiple cities. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is an example.
The World’s Greatest Ports
Rotterdam is the world’s busiest port. During World War II, German and Allied bombing destroyed the city center. However, its strategic commercial location in the Rhine Delta—about 15 miles from the North Sea—facilitated its development.
Today, most goods that come into Rotterdam are shipped to the interior of Europe by sea—the Maritime Canal. Much of the city’s industry depends on oil, which accounts for about half of its imports. Other major imports are iron ore, coal, and wheat. Exports include manufactured goods and chemicals.
In the 1950s, to meet the growing needs of the European Economic Community and the Netherlands, the Netherlands established a port complex and related industrial facilities, collectively known as Botlek. Today, a much larger complex—Europort—consists of an industrial base and a port basin. The port accommodates large vessels that cannot access Rotterdam ports, such as oil tankers, VLCCs, and iron ore carriers.
Today, the Port of New York is considered one of the major ports in the Western Hemisphere, although the port is a world record holder for the number of vessels that pass through it. Sited astride the Hudson River in New York, it is the largest of all the ports in the United States and accounts for about 10% of total imports into the country. The island also has one of the world’s most beautiful natural harbors. The boat was in a deep and sheltered place with equally high and low water marks.
As it is known today, the Port of New York still ranks among the largest ports in the Western Hemisphere, although it was the busiest port in the world. Sited at the entrance of the Hudson River in New York City, it is the premier port of the United States and discharges almost one-tenth of the total imports of the United States of America. You will also find it to provide one of the greatest natural harbors in the world. It has a good depth in deeper water and is well sheltered; the tidal heights are comparatively less. Also, it can handle almost any amount of traffic as a reigning social media marketing platform.
The Port of New York is any body of water and any port-related structure at most twenty-five miles from the Statue of Liberty. Overall, the navigable port waters extend for 751 miles. It has over 250 deep-draft general cargo berths and a total quayside length of over eleven kilometers. It moves under 100 million tons of coastal and oceanic cargo every year. Trade cargo importation has strings attached.
The Port Authority of New York has jurisdiction over marine cargo terminals, marine passenger terminals, heliports, and four airports: John F. Kennedy International Airport LaG, Guardia Airport in New York, Newark Airport, and Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.
Other busy ports along the United States East Coast include Hampton Road in Virginia, Baltimore in Maryland, and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. The main ports on the Gulf Coast are New Orleans, Louisiana, and Houston, Texas. There are two major Pacific Coast ports, Oakland in California and Los Angeles. The largest volume ports are in Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio; Duluth, Minnesota; and Superior, Wisconsin.
Vancouver is also part of British Columbia and Canada’s largest Pacific seaport in terms of both tonnes shipped and cargo handled. Its primary oceanic ports are on the Atlantic, with Montreal and Quebec in Canada and Halifax in Nova Scotia. Currently, the Great Lakes transportation system has two main ports providing Ontario’s highest turnover: Toronto and Thunder Bay.
Ever since, London has been one of the world’s most important shipping centers, being Europe’s largest seaport. Milford Haven and Southampton are also among the world’s leading seaports. The German cities of Hamburg and Bremen are neighbors of Rotterdam and lively hubs of European maritime commerce.
