Port location is constrained by two physical characteristics of the site.

The first involves land

access and the second concerns maritime access. Both must be jointly satisfied as they are
crucial for port operations, which rely on a maritime / land interface. This interface takes the
form of a buffer along the coastline (or a river depending on the port site) that experiences, due
to an appropriate site, the accumulation of port infrastructures. The interface can also be subject
to environmental and social conflicts. Thus, both land and maritime access can impair port
operations and port development since a port benefiting from good land access but from a poor
maritime access will be facing constraints as well as a port that has a good maritime access but a
poor land access. However, maritime access is the attribute that can be mitigated the least.
Activities such as dredging and the construction of port facilities are very expensive, underlining
the enduring importance of a good port site. Such a site conveys the best marginal utility to port
infrastructure investments.

Ports are a component of freight distribution as they support export and import activities. They
are points of convergence (collection) of inland and coastal (shot sea) transportation systems,
defining a port’s hinterland. This function may be direct, as freight reaches a port directly
through road transportation, or indirect as freight reaches a port though an inland port or through
traffic consolidation at a feeder port and shipped by coastal transportation or short sea shipping.
Likewise, ports are points of distribution to inland and coastal transportation systems. At the
local level, every port provides services to ships with berths, docks, navigation channels and
repairs (occasionally), and services to merchandises with cranes, warehouses and access to
inland distribution systems.

What Are Port Facilities?

The port can be a natural establishment or artificial construction, which provides a place for the
loading and unloading of cargo. Ports can be for large seagoing ships and also for inland
waterways such as rivers and lakes. The depth of the ports plays a vital role in allowing various
types of ships to enter and dock at the port.

But nowadays along with its basic purpose, a port is equipped with certain other amenities and
facilities. Different types of ports are equipped with different port facilities.

Some common port facilities provided by the most common sorts of ports throughout the world
are as follows:

a) Special Warehouse: This is available on all the ports, for storing the shipment and for
maintaining regular stock.

b) Port Reception: Reception has details of all the shipment scheduled and moreover it is a
guide for the port facilities.

c) Other facilities: Some other essential facilities are also available at seaports namely hotels,
restaurants, restrooms and eateries for the port visitors. Some of the ports are provided with
medical facilities to the people present there, if there is no hospital in the vicinity it becomes
obligatory for the port to provide with primary medical services.

d) Fishing facilities: Fishing ports allow its customer with fishing aids and amenities at the port.

e) Warm water facility: A greater revenue-generating warm water port provides warm water
even in frosting winters.

f) Loading and Unloading Facility: It is the mandatory part of every port to allow loading and
unloading of freight as well as people in a ship.

g) Infrastructure and Equipment’s: A port has piers, basins, stacking or storage areas,
warehouses to store various ferry equipment. Each port is equipped with essential equipment for
e.g. hauling equipment’s, draggers, cranes, trucks, loaders, etc.

h) Workshop: All the bigger and significant ports provide the facility of vessel workshop. It is
the place where one can get spare parts and accessories of a vessel. Also, the vessels which have
gone out of order are repaired and catered in the workshop.

What is Port Authority?

The Port Authority of any country is a government or semi-government public authority which
builds, maintains and operates critical transportation and trade assets at the seaports.

In short, the seaport authority facilitates the management of millions of people working on the
harbour and maintains or supervise vessel movement. The London Port Authority was the first
port authority. It came into action in the year 1908.

Port Authority controls, legalizes and manages all the port and marine services, facilities and
activities within the concerned country waters, it also includes management of vessel traffic,
improvisation of navigational safety, and facilitation of security and environmental management
at the port.
Organisation Of Port Authority:

Port authority comprises of following Departments:

1. Supervisory Board: It is the highest Department in port authority which supervises all the
activities of subsequent departments.

2. Executive Board: This Department is the most important department of port authority as it

actually makes and executes all the decisions regarding maintenance, control, security and
managerial operations. It has two main components namely:

President and chief executive Officer: The main functions of President and Chief Executive
Officer are as follows:

 Corporate Affairs and Corporate Strategies: They have to look after all the corporate
affairs and make strategies regarding the improvement of corporate relations.
 Human Resources: They have to appoint crew members, labours at the port and work
for their improvement by regular performance appraisal.
 Communication and External Affairs: They have to manage internal as well as
external communication on port and work for enhancing International trade.
 Internal Audit: They have to maintain Internal Audit as well.
 Legal Department: They have to legalize trade and cater to all the legal matters.

The President and Chief executive Officer are to manage following sub-departments:

i) Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and

ii) Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

i) Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer: They have to cater to all the matters
related to Finance, Procurement, Digital Business Solution, Digital and Information technology,
Innovation, etc. They also have to look after the Faculty Service Centre to manage working
personnel and their services.

ii) Vice President and Chief Operating Officer: They head Harbor’s Master division and work
primarily for Harbor Development. They manage all the assets and also work for environmental
Management.

Types of Ports

Considering a variety of factors such as location, depth, purpose, and ship sizes, ports are
classified into various types. Some of the main types are as follows:
Inland Ports

Inland ports are ports built on comparatively smaller water bodies such as rivers or lakes. They
can either be for cargo purpose or for passengers or for both. Conventionally Inland Ports are
constructed or naturally maintained ports at the coastline of small waterways like lake, river or
estuaries and rarely seen at sea coasts too.

Some of these inland ports can have access to the sea with the help of a canal system. As such
ports are built on inland waterways they usually behave like normal seaports but are not able to
allow deep draft ship traffic.

Some of the inland ports can be also be specifically made for recreational purpose allowing only
small-sized vessels or can be used just for ferrying people and fishing activities.

Inland ports are known for their quality to function in a smooth manner, unlike the clogged
seaports. These ports can also sometimes be referred to as dry ports, and are similar to active
intermodal hubs. The inland port at Montreal is the biggest of its kind.

Inland ports are conventionally maintained for quenching the needs of stocking and dispatching
of cargo but sometimes these are also made open to passengers too. These are shallower than
seaports so they don’t allow deep docking, but only docking to ferries is allowed at inland ports.

Inland transport services are used to connect these inland ports (generally called rail or road
terminal) through marine terminals. For e.g. St. Lawrence Seaway is an important inland port.

Intermodal transportation and tanker ships are on their peak in the international market due to the
development of Inland ports which are also referred to as Inland freight distribution ports, which
are a hub for inland waterway trades mainly due to their congestion-free space availability and
adequate capacity.

Inland terminal is the key connector for trading expeditions between two regions, not only for
inbound traffic but also in serving outbound traffic. This port also has to handle various
concerned logistic activities. Important functions of Inland ports are summarized below as:

 There should be well-established distribution centres for freight distribution

 Inland port Depots should be made available for ensuring proper storage of hulks and
containers which can be later used in different voyages
 There should be well established logistic department to handle all logistics activities as
well as to maintain inventory records
 There should be a proper warehouse to house spare parts of cargo and other machinery
involved in the loading of cargo.
Fishing Ports

Fishing ports are mainly related to the commercial sphere as they participate in fishing. The
fishing activities can also be treated as a mode of recreation. The existence of a fishing port
entirely relies upon the availability of fishes in that region of the ocean. A fishing port can be an
inland port or a seaport.

Often, fishing ports are marketable port which is generally used for recreational purposes or
aesthetics. These are the ports which allow controlled and disciplined fishing to their customers.
These are the highest revenue-generating ports when properly operational.

Unlike other types of ports, the fishing port has an operational loophole that is this port is
operational when there are fish available in the port area or locality. In the scarcity of fish in the
vicinity these ports become uneconomical.

Also, fishing ports require more maintenance works as compared to other ports so many are on
the verge of closing. These are the ports with smaller depth because of the draught of the fishing
vessel is limited to a short depth. A fishing port comprises:

 Hangers: These are the special area employed for the preservation of goods and
products. Also, it houses the production as well as a storage area which produce and store
necessary food or other items for the fish.
 Supply post: This is an important part of a fishing port and is responsible for satiating
the fuel needs and freshwater demand by the ship.
 Operation and Administration building: This the main building in which plans are
made for the voyage and fishing and management for all legal as well as health issues.
 Premises: It is the building which houses the deals in fish that is either purchase of fish
or sale of fish.

Warm Water Ports

These are the ports in which the water is maintained at warmer temperature. The biggest
advantage where a warm water port is concerned, is that the water does not freeze during the
frosty winters. Therefore, it is free to operate all year round without a temporary shutdown
during the freezing time. Such ports help to a great extent to boost the economy of the nation.

These ports have a significant role in the economic growth of the region where these are located.

Two such major revenue-generating ports are Valdez port of Alaska and Vostochny port of
Russia. The main reasons for which warm water ports are considered important and due to which
important developed countries of the world quest for establishing and acquiring more warm
water ports are as follows:
i) It allows trade throughout the year, because in chilling winter when other ports deny their
services, warm-water port is still operational and reach the import-export demand of the nation.

ii) These warm water ports made inland waterway trading possible in countries like Ethiopia.

iii) These are the main reason for the expansion of an empire around the globe.

A few notable examples may include Ukraine’s Odessa, Russia’s Vostochny Port and Murmansk
Port, Japan’s Kushiro and Alaska’s Valdez.

Dry Ports

Dry ports are defined as inland terminals that can be interconnected with a seaport via road or
rail transportation facilities, and they usually act as centres of multimodal logistics. A dry port
proves useful in the trade of importing and exporting cargo and can help to lessen the inevitable
congestion at a nearby seaport. Its functions are quite similar to that of a seaport, with the only
difference that is not situated near the coastline.

These are specifically employed for transhipment of cargo to inland destinations. It is a trans-
shipment port which is connected to a seaport and manages intermittent operation like billing and
managing co-ordination between importer and exporters.

These ports serve the same purpose as the veins do in our body because these are used to connect
importers and exporters from remote areas who cannot access to seaports for trading or other
purposes. In India alone, there are nearly 300 to 330 dry ports and certainly, more are under
development.

A dry port consists of all the necessary machinery to handle the constant clearance of shipment,
like proper cargo-instrumentations, rail sidings, storehouses, and even container yards.

Sea Ports

Seaports are the most common types of ports around the world which are used for commercial
shipping activities  These ports are built on a sea location and enable the accommodation of both
small and large vessels.

Numerous seaports are situated along the coastline and actively handle the ongoing cargo
transactions. A seaport can be further categorized as a cargo port or cruise port. Some of the
oldest seaports are still used for recreational and fishing purpose.

Special warehouses are also constructed to store the shipment and to maintain the regular
stocking. Added facilities such as hotels, restaurants, port reception facilities, restrooms and
eateries can also be made available to rouse the interest of the people visiting the port. Seaports
form some of the biggest and busiest ports in the world.

Seaports are the most common type of ports and a major part of water transportation. These are
further classified into three categories namely: Cruise Port; Port of call and Cargo port. These all
are briefed as under:

i) Cruise Home Ports

This type of port specializes in dealing with the activities of cruise ships and provide the
platform for the passengers to enter and disembark the cruises at the beginning and the end of the
journeys, respectively. A cruise home port is also capable of providing the essential provisions
required for a luxurious cruise voyage. The supplying may vary from fuel resources to fresh
drinking water, wines, foods etc.

A typical cruise home port is always congested and is buzzing with people boarding or leaving
the cruises.

These are the busiest sort of ports due to continuous boarding; loading; unloading activities.
Also, all the formalities and arrangements for a safe voyage through cruises is pre-planned and
executed by the port authority at the port.

In South Florida, Miami ports are considered as the modern cruise capital of the world.  Also,
Port Everglades and San Juan port of Florida and Puerto Rico respectively are also considered
significant for their destination holiday cruises.

Some of the popular cruise homeports include Florida’s Port of Miami and Port Everglades, and
Puerto Rico’s Port of San Juan.

ii) Port of call: Also known as the mid-way port, Port of call is somewhere midway on ship’s
travel plan to accept fuel supply and stocking or unloading cargo.

Port of Call is a type of port which is paid a brief visit by a ship on the voyage. It is also used
for carrying out essential repair works. Many passengers can also leave the vessel at a “port of
call”.

It serves as a stopover port, in between the home ports of a particular vessel.

iii) Cargo Ports

As the name suggests, these ports act according to the cargo it manages and the amenities
available differ from one port to the other. These are the special ports to handle cargo only.
These ports are also known as “bulk ports”, “break bulk ports” or “container ports”.

The cargo ports involve many mechanical techniques to load or unload the shipment. A cargo
port may be designed to deal with single, as well as multiple types of products.

Items such as liquid fuels, chemicals, food grains, timber, machines and motorcars, are
transported to various places, employing the adeptness of a cargo port. Deep water ports are
sometimes used along with those cargo ports which do not have sufficient depth to allow big
ships.

Cargo like wood, liquid chemicals or fuel, food grains, automobiles, etc. are handled by Bulk
ports whereas containerized cargo or cargo in containers is handled by the Container ports.
Sometimes a third category is also added in this series which is all-in-one port this sort of port
not only handle specific cargoes but can manage all sorts of cargoes on a single port.

Numerous operating terminals branch out from individual bulk ports and are assigned to
maintain the various kinds of ship ladings. Stevedores are the companies which act as terminal
operators and preside over the actions of the diverse operating terminals.

Difference Between Ports and Terminals

Ports are strategic geographical locations which are situated at the edge of ocean, seas, rivers, or
lakes. These locations are then developed to inculcate facilities for loading and unloading of
cargo ships. The facilities provided for a port depends on the purpose for which the port is being
used.

Whereas a terminal is referred to as the set of facilities at a port where loading and unloading of
cargo/container take place. Terminals are named on the basis of the type of cargo that can be
handled by them. Some of the most common types of terminals are container terminal, bulk
cargo terminal, LNG terminal etc.

Summary

In a nutshell, it can be concluded that in interstate or international trade ports are the key areas
which ensure safety, security and reliability of voyage.

There are different sorts of ports as per the purpose they are used for, but the main parts of all the
ports are same which are the port authority, administration and operation building, warehouses, a
depot for containers and vessels, etc.
There are five major types of natural or man-made ports which are Inland port, fishing port, dry
port, warm water port and seaport.

Among all these types of ports, seaports are the largest and busiest type of ports. This is due to
the reason that seaport serves to both cargoes as well as passengers. So more facilities and
equipment are available there which results in the employment of more personnel as a port
authority.

But all the regions cannot access to seaports, these are connected to the dry port by means of
either road or railways. These dry ports are further connected to seaports and serve as a mediator
of trade to the remote importers or exporters.

Fishing ports are leisure commercial ports which are only to serve the fishing activities by the
people for fun and enjoyment.

Inland ports are similar to seaports but with smaller capacity. When all these ports fail to serve
transportation due to freezing of water in winters then only warm-water ports are still
operational. So importance of warm water ports can never be out skirted. These are the only
media to carry out international or national trade expeditions in winter.

Today all the countries quest to own more and more warm water ports.

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