Seaport
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The Port of Wellington at night. Due to limited capacity, many ports operate twenty-four hours a day. |
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Port of Singapore is one of the busiest ports in the world. |
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The Friedrichshafen lake port gate, marked with the standard light signals (red and green) |
A
seaport is a facility for receiving seafaring
ships and transferring
cargo to and from them. They are usually situated at the edge of an
ocean,
sea,
river, or
lake. Ports often have cargo-handling equipment such as
cranes 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 very close by.
The term 'port' is used for ports that handle ocean-going vessels, and
river port is used for facilities that handle river traffic. Sometimes a port on a lake or river also has access to the ocean, and is then referred to as an
inland port. 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.
The presence of deep
water in
channels or
berths, the provision of protection from the
wind,
waves and
storm surges and access to intermodal transportation such as
trains or
trucks are critical to the functioning of seaports and river ports.
Cargo containers allow for efficient transport and distribution as each product, box and bulk cargo do not need to be loaded individually at each transportation point, making the loading and unloading process more efficient. Cargo can be sealed at point of origin, transported via intermodal transport, before being stacked and loaded on
container ships. These are then ultimately opened at final point of resale or destination. This is a vital part of modern retailing
Just in Time Delivery strategies.
Seaports and river ports are often equipped with large cranes for the loading and unloading of containers from container ships. These are usually operated by
stevedores.
Pilots and
tugboats are also used to safely maneuver the ships in tight quarters.
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Port of Antwerp*
Port of Busan*
Port of Charleston*
Port of Chiba*
Port of Dubai*
Port of Erdemir*
Port of Halifax*
Port of Hamburg*
Port of Hong Kong*
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Port of Incheon*
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Port of South Louisiana*
Port of Vancouver*
Port of Bilbao*
Port of Vigo*
Harbor*
Bandar*
Fishing*
Ship transport*
Transport*
Dubai Ports World*
Airport*
Spaceport*
Port rankings from the AAPA*
World Port Rankings 2002, by metric tons and by TEUs, American Association of Port Authorities (
xls format, 26.5kb)
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Information on 1,613 ports in 191 countries from Noonsite.com
