The following lists of ports cover ports of various types, maritime facilities with one or more wharves where ships may dock to load and discharge passengers and cargo. Most are on the sea coast or an estuary, but some are many miles inland, with access to the sea via river or canal. The lists are organized by shipping volume, by ocean or sea, by nation or sub-region, and by other characteristics.
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A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manchester and Duluth; these access the sea via rivers or canals. Because of their roles as ports of entry for immigrants as well as soldiers in wartime, many port cities have experienced dramatic multi-ethnic and multicultural changes throughout their histories.
The twenty-foot equivalent unit is a general unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports. It is based on the volume of a 20-foot-long (6.1 m) intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box which can be easily transferred between different modes of transportation, such as ships, trains, and trucks.
The Port of Singapore is the collection of facilities and terminals that conduct maritime trade and handle Singapore's harbours and shipping. It has been ranked as the top maritime capital of the world, since 2015. Currently the world's second-busiest port in terms of total shipping tonnage, it also transships a fifth of the world's shipping containers, half of the world's annual supply of crude oil, and is the world's busiest transshipment port. It was also the busiest port in terms of total cargo tonnage handled until 2010, when it was surpassed by the Port of Shanghai.
The Port of Hong Kong located by the South China Sea, is a deepwater seaport dominated by trade in containerised manufactured products, and to a lesser extent raw materials and passengers. A key factor in the economic development of Hong Kong, the natural shelter and deep waters of Victoria Harbour provide ideal conditions for berthing and the handling of all types of vessels. It is one of the busiest ports in the world, in the three categories of shipping movements, cargo handled and passengers carried. This makes Hong Kong a Large-Port Metropolis.
A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example trains or trucks, in which case the terminal is described as a maritime container port. Alternatively, the transshipment may be between land vehicles, typically between train and truck, in which case the terminal is described as an inland container port.
The Port of Prince Rupert is a seaport managed by the Prince Rupert Port Authority that occupies 667,731 hectares of land and water along 20 kilometres of waterfront. The port is located in Prince Rupert Harbour in the North Coast Regional District of British Columbia.
The Port of Savannah is a major U.S. seaport located at Savannah, Georgia. As of 2021, the port was the third busiest seaport in the United States. Its facilities for oceangoing vessels line both sides of the Savannah River and are approximately 18 miles (29 km) from the Atlantic Ocean. Operated by the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), the Port of Savannah competes primarily with the Port of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina to the northeast, and the Port of Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida to the south. The GPA operates one other Atlantic seaport in Georgia, the Port of Brunswick. The state also manages three interior ports linked to the Gulf of Mexico: Port Bainbridge, Port Columbus, and a facility at Cordele, Georgia linked by rail to the Port of Savannah. In the 1950s, the Port of Savannah was the only facility to see an increase in trade while the country experienced a decline in trade of 5%. It was chaired and led by engineer Dr. Blake Van Leer.
The Port of Rotterdam is the largest seaport in Europe, and the world's largest seaport outside of East Asia, located in and near the city of Rotterdam, in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. From 1962 until 2004, it was the world's busiest port by annual cargo tonnage. It was overtaken first in 2004 by the port of Singapore, and since then by Shanghai and other very large Chinese seaports. In 2020, Rotterdam was the world's tenth-largest container port in terms of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) handled. In 2017, Rotterdam was also the world's tenth-largest cargo port in terms of annual cargo tonnage.
The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a 25-mile (40 km) radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
The Port of Manila refers to the collective facilities and terminals that process maritime trade function in harbors in Metro Manila. Located in the Port Area and Tondo districts of Manila, facing Manila Bay, it is the largest and the premier international shipping gateway to the country. The Philippine Ports Authority, a government-owned corporation, manages the Port of Manila and most of the public ports in the country. It is composed of 3 major facilities, namely Manila North Harbor, Manila South Harbor, and the Manila International Container Terminal.
In 1961 China established a state-run maritime shipping company and subsequently signed shipping agreements with many countries, laying the foundation for developing the country's ocean transport. That organization developed into the present-day China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO). The Chinese government also invested heavily in water transport infrastructure, constructing new ports and rebuilding and enlarging older facilities.
The Port of Tokyo is one of the largest Japanese seaports and one of the largest seaports in the Pacific Ocean basin having an annual traffic capacity of around 100 million tonnes of cargo and 4,500,000 twenty-foot equivalent units.
Port of Tanjung Priok is the busiest and most advanced Indonesian seaport, handling more than 50% of Indonesia's trans-shipment cargo traffic. The port is located at Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, which is operated by Indonesian state owned PT Pelindo. The port loaded and unloaded 6.2 million, 6.92 million, and 7.8 million TEUs of cargo during 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively, out of a total capacity of about 8 million TEUs. The container port ranked as 22nd busiest in the world by Lloyd's One Hundred Ports 2019.
The Kochi International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT), locally known as the Vallarpadam Terminal, is the first transshipment terminal in India and the first container terminal to operate in a SEZ. It is part of the Cochin Port in Kochi, Ernakulam district, Kerala.
The Vizhinjam International Seaport Thiruvananthapuram locally known as Vizhinjam Seaport is India's first deep-water mega container transshipment port, which is under construction. It is a multi-purpose,all-weather, green port located 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) away from the Trivandrum International Airport at Vizhinjam, Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala. It is also the first automated port in India and the sole port in the country to be located adjacent to an international shipping route. Being a greenfield seaport, it provides flexibility in design and future expansion. The seaport will be connected by India's third-longest railway tunnel, presently under construction phase. It possesses the capability to host world's massive cargo ships such as vessels of the ULCS container ships like the MSC Irina. The cruise berth being constructed along the break water can accommodate the world's largest luxury cruise ships for docking, such as the Icon of the Seas, as of the year 2023. The seaport has a natural depth of 20 meters and is located just 10 nautical miles away from the busiest international east-west shipping channel connecting Europe, Persian Gulf, and the Far East. The port's strategic location, as the only Indian port in close proximity to an international shipping channel, ensures easy access to global trade networks. When fully commissioned, the seaport will have the capacity to cater to 75 percent of the container transhipment needs of India that currently take place at Dubai, Colombo and Singapore. The first phase of the project amounts to 7,700 crore Indian rupee, and the combined cost of all four phases, including the remaining three, is 20,000 crore making the total cost 27,700 crore. The Vizhinjam Seaport project is the first and only port project in India to receive VGF funding.
Lekki Deep Sea Port, is a multi-purpose, deep sea port in the Lagos Free Zone and is the only currently operating deep sea port in the country, having started full commercial operations in April 2023.
The Port of Charleston is a seaport located in South Carolina in the Southeastern United States. The port's facilities span three municipalities—Charleston, North Charleston, and Mount Pleasant—with six public terminals owned and operated by the South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA). These facilities handle containers, motor vehicles and other rolling stock, non-containerized goods and project cargo, as well as Charleston's cruise ship operation. Additional facilities in the port are privately owned and operated, handling bulk commodities like petroleum, coal and steel.
