Port

Information about Port

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Seaport, a painting by Claude Lorrain, 1638
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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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Chennai Port, India
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Kwai Tsing Container Terminals in Hong Kong is one of the busiest ports in the world
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Port of Singapore is also one of the busiest port in the world
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The Friedrichshafen lake port gate, marked with the standard light signals (red and green)
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Port of Kobe at twilight
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Port of Miami
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Port Miou near Cassis
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Colón seaport city as seen from the ocean.


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 very close by. Harbour pilots , barges and tugboats are often used to safely maneuver large ships in tight quarters as they approach and leave the docks. Ports which handle international traffic will 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; they 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.

Cargo containers allow for efficient transport and distribution by eliminating the need for smaller packages to be loaded individually at each transportation point, and allowing the shipping unit to be sealed for its entire journey. Standard containers can just as 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 once again.

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 was an important port in the Middle Ages, but the coastline changed and it is now 2 miles from the sea. Also in England London, on the River Thames, and Manchester, on the Manchester Ship Canal, were once important international ports, but are no longer so.

Ports and the Economy

According to the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), U.S. ports and waterways handle more than 2 billion tons of domestic and import/export cargo annually. By 2020, the total volume of cargo shipped by water is expected to be double that of 2000 volumes. American ports play a vital role in handling international cargo; they are responsible for moving over 99 percent of the country's overseas cargo.

Ports handle a wide variety of goods that are critical to the global economy, including petroleum, grain, steel and containerized goods. The automobile industry relies on the ability of ports to deliver their products. Reports from individual ports indicate that approximately 4.6 million automobilies (imports and exports) passed through American ports in 2006.

As more American businesses engage in international trade, ports will continue to grow. Small businesses, which the U.S. Small Business Association says are the engine of America's financial growth, account for 97 percent of companies that that export. American workers producing for export earned 15 percent higher wages and received 11 percent higher benefits than employees in non-exporting companies. According to the Small Business Association, 24 million small businesses account for 99.7 percent of all employers, and they are engaging in international trade in record numbers.

In addition to handling goods from all over the world, ports also play a key role in creating jobs and boosting the economy. For every $1 billion in exports, about 15,000 port jobs are created. The figure swells to 30,000-45,000 when taking into account jobs to support the new products and personnel (such as new construction, restaurants, etc.)

A five-day work stoppage would have a nationwide economic impact of nearly $4.7 billion, including a loss of 15,100 jobs, according to Dr. John Martin, president of Martin Associates, a business consulting service. Dr. Martin, who holds a doctorate in economics from George Washington University, is widely regarded as a leader in port economic impact studies.

According to an August 2007 report from Dr. Martin [1], American ports employed nearly 8.4 million people either directly or indirectly. Of this total, 1.4 million were employed in providing goods and services to ports (such as longshore, stevedore and security personnel). The remaining 7 million were employed in import- and export-related activities (such as transportation, warehousing and distribution]. Port activities were also responsible for bringing in $102.8 billion in total federal, state and local taxes in 2006.

''For summary of port-sector econonic impacts study statistics, performed by Martin Associates, Lancaster, Pa., August 2007, click on [2]

Major ports

See also:  and
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Major Ports

See also

Planned ports Water port topics Other types of ports Companies Support to seafarers

External links

ship is a large watercraft capable of offshore navigation. Ships may be operated by:
  • Governments (military, rescue, research, transportation)
  • Private companies and institutions (transportation, offshore resources, research)
  • Individuals (large yachts, research).

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Earth's oceans
(World Ocean)
  • Arctic Ocean
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Indian Ocean
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Southern Ocean
An ocean (from Ωκεανός, Okeanos
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The three-letter acronym SEA may refer to:
  • Scientists and Engineers for America, a pro-science political advocacy group.
  • Schoof-Elkies-Atkin algorithm
  • Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (IATA: SEA, ICAO: KSEA)
  • Sea Education Association

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river is a natural waterway that transits water through a landscape from higher to lower elevations. It is an integral component of the water cycle. The water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through surface runoff, groundwater recharge (as seen at baseflow
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lake (from Latin ligacus) is a body of water or other liquid of considerable size contained on a body of land. A vast majority of lakes on Earth are fresh water, and most lie in the Northern Hemisphere at higher latitudes.
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crane is a mechanical lifting device equipped with a winder, wire ropes and sheaves that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability
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stevedore, docker, and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country.
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forklift truck, a lift truck, a High/Low or a forklift and sideloader is a powered industrial truck used to lift and transport materials, normally by means of steel forks inserted under the load.
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Canning is a method of preserving food by first sealing it in air-tight jars, cans or pouches, and then heating it to a temperature that destroys contaminating microorganisms that can either be of health or spoilage concern because of the danger posed by several spore-forming
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pilot is a mariner who guides ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbours or river mouths. Legally the master remains in command of the ship. The pilot is an adviser only.
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TUGboat (ISSN 0896-3207) is a journal published three times per year by the TeX Users Group. It covers a wide range of topics in digital typography relevant to the TeX typesetting system. The editor is Barbara Beeton.
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dock (from Dutch 'dok') is a man-made feature involved in the handling of boats or ships. However the exact meaning varies between different variants of the English language.
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Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting customs duties and for controlling the flow of animals and goods (including personal effects and hazardous items) in and out of a country.
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The term inland port is used in two different but related ways to mean either a port on an inland waterway or an inland site carrying out some functions of a seaport.

As a port on an inland waterway

An inland port
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harbor or harbour (see spelling differences), or haven, is a place where ships may shelter from the weather or are stored. Harbors can be man-made or natural. A man-made harbor will have sea walls or breakwaters and may require dredging.
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Dry Port is a yard used to place containers or conventional bulk cargo, usually connected to a seaport by rail or road. A Dry Port is an inland intermodal terminal which has services like, storage, consolidation, depot, maintenance of containers and customs clearance.
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Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport cargo transport using standard ISO containers (known as Shipping Containers or Isotainers) that can be loaded and sealed intact onto container ships, railroad cars, planes, and trucks.
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ship is a large watercraft capable of offshore navigation. Ships may be operated by:
  • Governments (military, rescue, research, transportation)
  • Private companies and institutions (transportation, offshore resources, research)
  • Individuals (large yachts, research).

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train is a series of rail vehicles that move along guides to transport freight or passengers from one place to another. The guideway (permanent way) usually consists of conventional rail tracks, but might also be monorail or maglev.
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truck is a vehicle usually used for transporting bulk goods, materials, or equipment. The word "truck" comes from the Greek "trochos", meaning "wheel". In America, the big wheels of wagons were called trucks.
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fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air craft where movement of the wings in relation to the aircraft is not used to generate lift. The term is used to distinguish from rotary-wing aircraft, or ornithopters, where the movement of the wing surfaces relative to the aircraft
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Container ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size containers, in a technique called containerization. They form a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport.
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Just in Time could refer to the following:
  • Just In Time (business), an inventory strategy that reduces in-process inventory
  • Just-in-time compilation, a technique for improving the performance of bytecode-compiled programming systems

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Rye

Rye, East Sussex (United Kingdom)

Rye shown within the United Kingdom
Population 4,600 (2001 census)
OS grid reference
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Motto
Dieu et mon droit   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the Queen".
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Motto
Dieu et mon droit   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the Queen".
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London
Canary Wharf is the centre of London's modern office towers
London shown within England
Coordinates:
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Constituent country England
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Thames

The Thames in London


Country | England
Regions | Gloucestershire,Oxfordshire,Berkshire,Buckinghamshire,Surrey,Greater London,Kent

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City of Manchester
Manchester City Centre

Coat of Arms of the City Council
Nickname: "Capital of the North", "Cottonopolis", "Madchester", "Second city"
Motto: "Concilio Et Labore"
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