A harbor (

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...

), harbour (

British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly ...

; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered

body of water A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, but it includes smaller pools of water such as ...

where ships,

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

s, and

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with '' port'', which is a man-made facility built for loading and unloading vessels and dropping off and picking up passengers. Ports usually include one or more harbors.

Alexandria Port The Port of Alexandria is on the West Verge of the Nile Delta between the Mediterranean Sea and Mariut Lake in Alexandria, Egypt, and is considered the second most important city and the main port in Egypt. Alexandria port consists of two harbour ...

in Egypt is an example of a port with two harbors. Harbors may be natural or artificial. An artificial harbor can have deliberately constructed

breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island, Antarctica * Breakwater Islands, Nunavut, Canada * Br ...

sea wall A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation ...

s, or jettys or they can be constructed by

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

, which requires maintenance by further periodic dredging. An example of an artificial harbor is

Long Beach Harbor The Port of Long Beach, also known as the Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach, is a container port in the United States, which adjoins Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for US–Asian trade, the port occupies of land with ...

, California, United States, which was an array of salt marshes and tidal flats too shallow for modern

merchant ships A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are us ...

before it was first dredged in the early 20th century. In contrast, a natural harbor is surrounded on several sides of land. Examples of natural harbors include Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia and Trincomalee Harbour in Sri Lanka.

History

As a rule, the harbor is called the water area of the port, directly adjacent to the berth am, where the loading and unloading of ships, embarkation and disembarkation of passengers are carried out. Also in the harbor, ships can be at a long anchorage at the pier or at

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄγ ...

. For this purpose, special places for

anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

will be equipped on the territory of the harbor. The harbor can be artificial or natural. For a natural harbor, choose a place well protected from waves and wind, surrounded on several sides by land areas.'' Stanyukovich KM '' Dictionary of marine terms found in stories. An artificial harbor usually has purpose-built

s, and dredging is also used in the construction of artificial harbors. Natural harbors require maintenance through periodic depth measurements and, if necessary, further periodic dredging. An example of an artificial harbor is Long Beach Harbor, California, USA, which was an array of salt marshes and tidal banks too shallow for modern merchant ships. At the beginning of the 20th century, dredging works were carried out here.

Artificial harbors

Artificial harbors are frequently built for use as ports. The oldest artificial harbor known is the Ancient Egyptian site at

Wadi al-Jarf Wadi al-Jarf ( ar, وادي الجرف) is the present name for an area on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, south of Suez, that is the site of the oldest known artificial harbour in the world, developed about 4500 years ago. It is located at the mo ...

, on the Red Sea coast, which is at least 4500 years old (ca. 2600-2550 BCE, reign of King Khufu). The largest artificially created harbor is

Jebel Ali Jebel Ali ( ar, جبل علي) is a port town south-west of Dubai. The Jebel Ali Port is located there. Al Maktoum International Airport has been constructed just outside the port area. Jebel Ali is connected to Dubai via the UAE Exchange (for ...

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics o ...

. Other large and busy artificial harbors include: * Port of Houston, Texas, United States; *

Port of Long Beach The Port of Long Beach, also known as the Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach, is a container port in the United States, which adjoins Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for US–Asian trade, the port occupies of land with ...

, California, United States; *

Port of Los Angeles The Port of Los Angeles is a seaport managed by the Los Angeles Harbor Department, a unit of the City of Los Angeles. It occupies of land and water with of waterfront and adjoins the separate Port of Long Beach. Promoted as "America's Port", t ...

in San Pedro, California, United States. * Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands; *

Port of Savannah 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 approximate ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, United States; The Ancient Carthaginians constructed fortified, artificial harbors called

cothon A cothon ( el, κώθων, lit=drinking vessel) is an artificial, protected inner harbour such as that in Carthage during the Punic Wars 200 BCE. Cothons were generally found in the Phoenician world. Other examples include Motya in Sicily ...

Natural harbors

ANTARA FOTO-Eric Ireng TERMINAL PETIKEMAS SURABAYA

A natural harbor is a

landform A landform is a natural or anthropogenic land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography. Landforms include hills, m ...

where a section of a body of water is protected and deep enough to allow anchorage. Many such harbors are rias. Natural harbors have long been of great

strategic naval Naval strategy is the planning and conduct of Naval warfare, war at sea, the naval equivalent of military strategy on land. Naval strategy, and the related concept of maritime strategy, concerns the overall strategy for achieving victory at sea ...

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: *

Bali Strait Bali Strait is a stretch of water separating Java and Bali while connecting the Indian Ocean and the Bali Sea. At its narrowest it is wide. Geography The Bali Strait is one of the bodies of water surrounding the island of Bali: Lombok Strait ...

, Indonesia * Berehaven Harbour, Ireland * Balikpapan Bay in East Kalimantan, Indonesia * Mumbai in Maharashtra, India *

Boston Harbor Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States. History Since ...

in Massachusetts, United States *

Burrard Inlet french: Baie Burrard , image = Burrard Inlet 201807.jpg , image_size = 250px , alt = , caption = Aerial view of Burrard Inlet , image_bathymetry = Burrard-Inlet-map-en.svg , alt_bathymetry ...

in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada * Cork Harbour, Ireland * Grand Harbour,

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

* Guantánamo Bay, Cuba * Gulf of Paria, Trinidad and Tobago * Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada *

Hamilton Harbour Hamilton Harbour, formerly known as Burlington Bay, lies on the western tip of Lake Ontario, bounded on the northwest by the City of Burlington, on the south by the City of Hamilton, and on the east by Hamilton Beach (south of the Burlington ...

in Ontario, Canada *

Killybegs Killybegs () is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is the largest fishing port in the country and on the island of Ireland. It is located on the south coast of the county, north of Donegal Bay, near Donegal Town. Its Irish name ''Na Cealla B ...

in County Donegal, Ireland *

Kingston Harbour Kingston Harbour in Jamaica is the seventh-largest natural harbour in the world. It is an almost landlocked area of water approximately long by wide. Most of it is deep enough to accommodate large ships, even close to shore. It is bordered to th ...

, Jamaica * Marsamxett Harbour, Malta * Milford Haven in Wales, United Kingdom * New York Harbor in the United States * Pago Pago Harbor in

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

* Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, United States *

Poole Harbour Poole Harbour is a large natural harbour in Dorset, southern England, with the town of Poole on its shores. The harbour is a drowned valley ( ria) formed at the end of the last ice age and is the estuary of several rivers, the largest bei ...

in England, United Kingdom *

Port Hercules Port Hercules (french: Port Hercule) is the only deep-water port in Monaco. The port has been in use since ancient times. The modern port was completed in 1926, and underwent substantial improvements in the 1970s. It covers almost , enough to pr ...

Principality of Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Liguria ...

* Sydney Harbour in Australia, technically a ria * Tanjung Perak in Surabaya, Indonesia * Port of Tobruk in

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near t ...

, Libya *

Presque Isle Bay Presque Isle Bay is a natural bay located off the coast of Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. Its embayment is about in length, about across at its widest point, and an average depth of about . The bay is at an elevation of 571 ft (174 m ...

in Pennsylvania, United States * Prince William Sound in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, United States * Puget Sound in

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, United States * Roadstead of Brest in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...

, France * San Francisco Bay in California, United States * Scapa Flow in Scotland, United Kingdom * Sept-Îles in

Côte-Nord Côte-Nord (, ; ; land area ) is the second-largest administrative region by land area in Quebec, Canada, after Nord-du-Québec. It covers much of the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence River estuary and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence past T ...

, in Quebec, Canada * Shelburne in Nova Scotia, Canada *

Subic Bay Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Su ...

Zambales Zambales, officially the Province of Zambales ( fil, Lalawigan ng Zambales; ilo, Probinsia ti Zambales; Pangasinan: ''Luyag/Probinsia na Zambales''; xsb, Probinsya nin Zambales), is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon re ...

, Philippines * Tampa Bay in Florida, United States * Trincomalee Harbour, Sri Lanka *

Tuticorin Thoothukudi (formerly Tuticorin) is a port city, a municipal corporation and an industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The city lies in the Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal. Thoothukudi is the capital and h ...

in Tamil Nadu, India * Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong * Visakhapatnam Harbour, India *

Vizhinjam Vizhinjam is a region located in the city of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the state of Kerala in India. It is located 16 km south west from the city centre and 17 km south of Trivandrum International Airport along NH66. Adani Por ...

in Trivandrum, India *

Waitemata Harbour Waitemata or Waitematā may refer to: * Waitematā Harbour, the primary harbour of Auckland, New Zealand * Waitematā (local board area), a local government area in Auckland, New Zealand ** Waitematā Local Board, a local board of Auckland Council, ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about It ...

, New Zealand * Zihuatanejo Harbor, Mexico

Ice-free harbors

For harbors near the North and South poles, being ice-free is an important advantage, especially when it is year-round. Examples of these are: * Hammerfest, Norway *

Liinakhamari Liinakhamari (russian: Лиинахамари; fi, Liinahamari; sv, Linhammar; Norwegian: ''Linjehammere)'' is an ice-free harbour and a rural locality in Pechengsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. The harbour belonged to Finland from ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...

* Murmansk, Russia *

Nakhodka Nakhodka ( rus, Нахо́дка, p=nɐˈxotkə) is a port city in Primorsky Krai, Russia, located on the Trudny Peninsula jutting into the Nakhodka Bay of the Sea of Japan, about east of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the kra ...

Nakhodka Bay Nakhodka Bay or Nakhodka Gulf () is a bay of the Peter the Great Gulf of the Sea of Japan, on which is sited the port of Nakhodka. It is part of the Primorsky Krai of Russia. The Lisy Island protects the bay from open sea waves. Literally th ...

, Russia * Pechenga, Russia *

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...

, Canada * Valdez, United States * Vardø, Norway *

Vostochny Port Vostochny Port (russian: Восто́чный порт) is an intermodal container port at the eastern end of the Trans-Siberian Railway. It is the largest port in the Russian Far East. It is located in Vrangel (an eastern suburb of Nakhodka ...

, Russia The world's southernmost harbor, located at

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

Winter Quarters Bay Winter Quarters Bay is a small cove of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, located due south of New Zealand at 77°50'S. The harbor is the southernmost port in the Southern Ocean and features a floating ice pier for summer cargo operations. The bay is ap ...

(77° 50′ South), is sometimes ice-free, depending on the summertime

pack ice Drift ice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.).Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Unlike fast ice, which is "fastene ...

conditions.

Important harbors

Although the world's busiest port is a contested title, in 2017 the world's busiest harbor by cargo tonnage was the Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan. The following are large natural harbors: Mk Stettin Hafen2

Notes

External links

Harbor Maintenance Finance and Funding
Congressional Research Service * {{Ports and harbors Coastal construction Nautical terminology Bodies of water Infrastructure Industrial buildings it:Porto tt:Лиман