Harbor

Port Jackson, Sydney, Australia.

A harbor (harbour in British English) 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 usually has sea walls or breakwaters and may require dredging. A natural harbor is surrounded on most sides by land.

Harbors and ports are often confused. A port is a man-made coastal or riverine facility where boats and ships can load and unload. It may consist of quays, wharfs, jetties, piers and slipways with cranes or ramps. A port may have magazine buildings or warehouses for storage of goods and a transport system, such as railway, road transport or pipeline transport facilities for relaying goods inland.

Natural harbors

A natural harbor in Vizhinjam, India.

A natural harbor is a landform where a part of a body of water is protected and deep enough to furnish anchorage. Natural harbors have long been of great strategic and economic importance. Many of the great cities of the world are located on a natural harbor. Having a protected harbour reduces or eliminates the use of breakwaters as it will result in calmer waves inside the harbour.

Ice-free harbors

For harbors near the poles, being ice-free is an important advantage, ideally all-year round. Examples are Murmansk (Russia), Petsamo (Russia, formerly Finland), Hammerfest, Vardø, and Prince Rupert (Canada). The southern-most harbor, at Antarctica's Winter Quarters Bay (77°50′S), presents a potentially ice-free harbor, dependent on summer pack ice conditions.

Temporary harbors

St. John's harbour, Newfoundland

Sometimes a harbor is needed where one isn't available due to damage, such as in times of war. In this case a temporary harbor may be built and transported in pieces to the location. The most notable of these were the two Mulberry harbours used during the D-Day invasion of Normandy in World War II.

Notable harbors

The tiny harbour at the village of Clovelly, Devon, England.

The following are large natural harbors:

• Baltimore's Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
• Boston Harbor, United States
• Charleston, United States
• Cork Harbour, Republic of Ireland
• Durban, South Africa
• Falmouth, Cornwall, England
• Freetown Harbour, Sierra Leone
• Gothenburg, Sweden
• Grand Harbour, Malta
• Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia Canada
• Kingston, Jamaica
• Kochi, India
• Manila Bay, Philippines
• Milford Haven, Wales
• Montevideo, Uruguay
• Mumbai, India
• New York Harbor, United States
• Oslofjord, Norway
• Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii
• Plymouth Sound, Devon, England
• Poole Harbour, Dorset, England
• Port Jackson, Australia
• Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia
• Rio de Janeiro, Guanabara Bay, Brazil
• Salvador, Brazil
• San Diego Bay, San Diego, California
• San Francisco Bay, United States
• Tokyo Bay, Tokyo, Japan
• Trincomalee, Sri Lanka
• Vancouver, Canada
• Wellington Harbour, New Zealand
• Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles

Artificial harbors are frequently built for use as ports. The largest artificially created harbor is in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

The busiest harbor is the twin Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach in southern California in the United States.

Capri harbour, Italy seen from Anacapri

Other notable harbors include:

• Belém, Brazil
• Hamburg Harbour, Germany
• Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States
• Kahului, Hawaii
• Kaipara Harbour, New Zealand
• Kaohsiung, Taiwan
• Keelung, Taiwan
• Keppel Harbour, Singapore
• Manukau Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand
• New Haven Harbor, United States
• Port of Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium
• Port of Bruges-Zeebrugge, Flanders, Belgium
• Portland Harbour, Dorset, England
• Trondheim, Norway
• Victoria Harbour Hong Kong, People's Republic of China (see also List of harbours in Hong Kong)

See also

• Boat
• Dock (maritime)
• Dry dock
• Marina
• Port
• Ship

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Keith, Robert C. 1991. Baltimore Harbor: A Picture History. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801842042.

External links

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