2. INTRODUCTION
• Sea ports are historic, commercial and infrastructural assets that form the
backbone of national and regional economies.
• OUTLINE:
• Main features and operations of ports
• Importance of ports
• Largest ports and some description of some.
• Conclusion

3. What is a port
• A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors
where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land. Port
locations are selected to optimize access to land and navigable water, for
commercial demand, and for shelter from wind and waves

5. What is harbours ?
• A harbor , also called a haven, is a body of water where ships, boats,
and barges seek shelter from stormy weather, or are stored for future use.

7. MAIN FEATURES & OPERATIONS OF PORTS:
• Ports reflect national heritage, local commercial attitudes, practices, and
laws that differ widely between nations.
• Ports require long-term, expensive, and specialized investments and
resources that represent a substantial chunk of national economy. Ports are
large civil engineering undertakings and a collection of activities entailing
huge sunk costs.
• Ports provide ship/shore intermodal interface.

10. • Civil engineering features:
• Sea and land access
• Infrastructures for ships berthing & unberthing Road and rail networks
• Industrial area management
• Administrative functions:
• Control of all modes of vehicles entering and leaving the port Environmental control
• Dangerous and hazardous cargo control
• Safety and security within the port area
• Immigration, health, customs, and commercial documentary control

14. Largest port in world
Port of Shanghai
The Port of Shanghai is the biggest port in the world based on cargo throughput. The
Chinese port handled 744 million tonnes of cargo in 2012, including 32.5 million twenty-
foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers.
The port is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River covering an area of 3,619km².
Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) owns the port facility. Wusongkou,
Waigaoqiao and Yangshan are the three main container port areas.
The port comprises of 125 berths with a total quay length of about 20km. It serves more
than 2,000 container ships on a monthly basis and accounts for a quarter of China’s
total foreign trade.

16. Vishakhapatnam:
• It is the deepest land-locked and protected port built at the coast ofAndhra Pradesh. An outer
harbour has been developed to handle the export of iron-ore. Elaborate arrangements have
been made to handle crude oil and other petroleum products. It also handles fertilizers.
Vishakhapatnam has a capacity of handling 16.7 million tonnes of cargo traffic. It also has the
ship-building and ship-repair industry.
• The primary export items are iron ore (especially from Bailadila mines to Japan), manganese
ore, spices and wood.The imports comprise mainly of mineral oil, coal, luxury items and other
industrial products. In the year 2002-03, this port handled 18,544 thousand tonnes of imports
and 20,279 thousand tonnes of exports.
• The hinterland ofVishakhapatnam port commands an approximate area of 3.4 lakh sq km which
is constituted by Andhra Pradesh and the contiguous parts of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra and Karnataka.This part of the country is very rich in mineral resources and
agricultural produce.

17. Mumbai:
• It is a magnificent natural harbour on theWest Coast of India.The deep 10-12
metre sea adjoining the harbour with no sand banks enables big ships to enter the
port easily. It handles approximately one-fifth of India’s foreign trade with
predominance in dry cargo and mineral oil from the Gulf countries
• It is the biggest port of India. It handles foreign trade with the Western countries
and EastAfrican countries.The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 brought it much
closer to the European countries. In the year 2002-03, this port handled 24,304
thousand tonnes of cargo out of which 14,027 consisted of imports and the
remaining 10,277 thousand tonnes was exports.

18. Kolkata-Haldia:
• It is a riverine port located on the left bank of river Hugli about 128 kms inland from the Bay
of Bengal. Kolkata port handles goods coming from South-EastAsian countries, Australia
and New Zealand. Kolkata port is called the ‘Gateway to Eastern India.
• It is the world’s most important centre of jute industries. Kolkata is the main port for
exporting jute products, tea, coal, steel, iron ore, copper, leather and leather products,
textiles, manganese and many more items.The imports consist mainly of machinery, crude
oil, paper, fertilizers and chemical products.
• The Kolkata port suffers from a number of problems. It is located on the bank of the River
Hugli, which suffers from the problem of silting as tidal bores enter this port frequently.
Sandy bars and islands have been formed at several places.

19. Chennai:
• Chennai is the oldest artificial harbour on the East Coast of India. It does not
possess a natural harbour and an artificial harbour has been created in an area of 80
hectares near the coast. It mainly handles petroleum products, fertilizers, iron-ore
and general cargo.
• The major items of exports are rice, textiles, leather and leather goods, tobacco,
coffee, manganese ore, fish and fish products, coconut, copra etc.The imports
consist of coal, crude oil, paper, cotton, vehicles, fertilizers, machinery, chemical
products etc. It has a capacity to handle traffic of 21.37 million tonnes and can
accommodate as many as 21 vessels inside the harbour.

20. WHY ARE SEAPORTS ARE IMPORTANT?
• Seaports are a haven with facilities for berthing and anchoring ships and providing
equipment for transfer of goods from ship-shore, shore-ship & ship-ship.
• Ports function as
• distribution centers;
• industrial zones;
• energy supply bases;
• mercantile trading centers with banks, brokers, and traders;
• urbanization and city redevelopment centers;
• life activity bases in rural ports;
• maritime leisure bases in cruise passenger ship terminals; private yacht marinas;
• dockside recreation facilities; etc.

21. CONCLUSION
• Ports have historical, commercial and infrastructural significance.They form
the backbone of national and regional economies. Supporting efficient port
operations and management is vital for national prosperity