Harbor

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For other uses, see Harbor (disambiguation).
Capri harbor, Italy seen from Anacapri

A harbor or harbour (see spelling differences), or haven, is a body of water where ships, boats, and barges can seek shelter from stormy weather, or else are stored for future use. Harbors can be natural or artificial. An artificial harbor has deliberately constructed breakwaters, sea walls, or jettys, or otherwise, they could have been constructed by dredging, and these require maintenance by further periodic dredging. An example of the former kind is at Long Beach Harbor, California, and an example of the latter kind is San Diego Harbor, California, which was, under natural conditions, too shallow for modern merchant ships and warships.

In contrast, a natural harbor is surrounded on several sides by prominences of land. An example of this kind of harbor is San Francisco Bay, California.

Harbors and ports are often confused with each other. A port is a facility for loading and unloading vessels; ports are usually located in harbors.

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Artificial harbors [edit]

Artificial harbors are frequently built for use as ports. The oldest artificial harbor known is the Ancient Egyptian Wadi al-Jarf, which is at least 4500 years old. The largest artificially created harbor is Jebel Ali in Dubai.[1] Other large and busy artificial harbors are located at: Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Port of Houston, Texas; Port of Long Beach, California; and Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, California.

Natural harbors [edit]

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. Many such harbors are rias. Natural harbors have long been of great strategic naval and economic importance, and many great cities of the world are located on them. Having a protected harbor reduces or eliminates the need for breakwaters as it will result in calmer waves inside the harbor. Some examples are New York City harbor in the United States; Poole Harbour in England; Kingston Harbor in Jamaica; Subic, Zambales in the Philippines; Sydney Harbor in Australia; Pearl Harbor in Hawaii; San Francisco Bay in California; Visakhapatnam Harbor in Andhra Pradesh, India; Killybegs in County Donegal Ireland; and Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Ice-free harbors [edit]

For harbors near the North and South Poles, being ice-free is an important advantage, especially when it is year-round. Examples of these include Murmansk, Russia; Pechenga, Russia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Hammerfest, Norway; Vardø, Norway; and Prince Rupert Harbour, Canada. The world's southmost harbor, located at Antarctica's Winter Quarters Bay (77° 50′ South), is potentially ice-free, depending on the summertime pack ice conditions.[2]

Important harbors [edit]

The tiny harbour at the village of Clovelly, Devon, England
Old Harbour in Lüneburg, Germany.
The harbor of Piraeus in Greece.
Port Jackson, Sydney.

Although the world's busiest port is a hotly contested title, in 2006 the world's busiest harbor by cargo tonnage was the Port of Shanghai.[3]

The following are large natural harbors:

Other notable harbours include:

See also [edit]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ Hattendorf, John B. (2007), The Oxford encyclopedia of maritime history, Oxford University Press, p. 590, ISBN 978-0-19-513075-1 
  2. ^ U.S. Polar Programs National Science Foundation FY2000.
  3. ^ AAPA World Port Rankings 2006

External links [edit]

Look up harbor in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Harbors
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