The Port of Boston ( AMS Seaport Code: 0401,

UN/LOCODE UN/LOCODE, the United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations, is a geographic coding scheme developed and maintained by United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). UN/LOCODE assigns codes to locations used in trade and transpor ...

: US BOS) is a major

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as ...

located in

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 ...

and adjacent to the

City of Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

. It is the largest port in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

and one of the principal ports on the

East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...

. The Port of Boston was historically important for the growth of the City of Boston, and was originally located in what is now the downtown area of the city, called Long Wharf.

Land reclamation Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamat ...

and conversion to other uses means that the downtown area no longer handles commercial traffic, although there is still considerable ferry and leisure usage at Long Wharf. Today the principal cargo handling facilities are located in the Boston neighborhoods of Charlestown,

East Boston East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts annexed by the city of Boston in 1637. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Revere, and Chelsea. It is separated from the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown and d ...

, and

South Boston South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformat ...

, and in the neighboring city of Everett. The Port of Boston has also been an entry point for many immigrants.

Administration

The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) was created in 1956 by a special act of the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...

; however, the Authority was not enabled until 1959, due to delay in

bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemical ...

funding. The Authority is an independent public authority, not a state agency. The Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation and Public Works serves as an ex-officio member of the board and the remaining six members are appointed by the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

to staggered seven year terms. Its Board members must be residents of Massachusetts. The

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-ter ...

also has a presence with

United States Customs and Border Protection United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilit ...

officers. The port has three areas of activity: cargo, cruises and ferry service.

History

Situationsplan von Boston (Massachusetts)

Before the

colonization Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

of the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

, the area served as a trading post for Native Americans in the region. After the establishment of the Boston settlement by

John Winthrop John Winthrop (January 12, 1587/88 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led t ...

in 1630 and the creation of a local

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to bef ...

industry, the port served the rapidly expanding

American colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centur ...

. During that time, trade involved finished goods from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in exchange for lumber, fully constructed vessels, rum, and salted fish. With the rapid growth of the Mid-Atlantic colonies in the 1750s, the ports of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

began to surpass Boston for inter-colony trade. In response, Bostonian merchants established trade with foreign nations besides

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

. This trade led to a huge increase in wealth amongst local Bay State merchants. However, the British government's imposition of regulations restricting trade to Great Britain, combined with newly enacted taxes on the colonists, caused Bostonian merchants to join the more radical elements in American society. After the

Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell t ...

, the

British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

passed the

Boston Port Act The Boston Port Act, also called the Trade Act 1774, was an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which became law on March 31, 1774, and took effect on June 1, 1774. It was one of five measures (variously called the ''Intole ...

which shut down the port until the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

was compensated for the damaged tea These actions led to the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. Though economically devastated by the Revolutionary War, the Port of Boston was again prospering with trade with various foreign ports such as

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

. The port's fortunes were further augmented with a navy base at Charlestown. By the mid-19th century, the shipbuilding industry reached its peak as displayed by the clipper ships developed by

Donald McKay Donald McKay (September 4, 1810 – September 20, 1880) was a Canadian-born American designer and builder of sailing ships, famed for his record-setting clippers. Early life He was born in Jordan Falls, Shelburne County, on Nova Scotia's ...

. The port also saw many land reclamation projects and the construction of new piers. With the start of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

in the United States, activity in the port turned towards trade between the states. Starting in the mid-19th century, the Port of Boston was eclipsed yet again by other eastern seaboard ports such the Port of New York City as local merchant companies were bought out by New York businessmen. In 1956, control of the port was handed to the

Massachusetts Port Authority Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) is an American port authority in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It owns and operates three airports—Logan International Airport, Hanscom Field, and Worcester Regional Airport—and public terminals i ...

(Massport), which began the process of modernizing the port. During the 1980s and 1990s, a project dedicated to the cleanup of

was overseen by the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA). In 1966, Sea-Land introduced containerized shipping and later established one of the first container ports on Castle Island, where Conley Terminal now stands. To meet the growing demand for container shipping, Massport constructed a common-use container port on what is now Moran Terminal. However, the port faced a setback with the closure of the

Charlestown Navy Yard The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. It was established in 1801 as part of the recent establishment of t ...

in 1974. In the mid-1990s, the port went through another round of modernization. Container shipping operations were consolidated at Conley Terminal while Moran Terminal was dedicated to automobile shipping. A project of dredging the harbor commenced in 1997. Through the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (Big Dig), ground access to the

facilities were improved with the extension of

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, an ...

and the construction of the

Ted Williams Tunnel The Ted Williams Tunnel is a highway tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts. The third in the city to travel under Boston Harbor, with the Sumner Tunnel and the Callahan Tunnel, it carries the final segment of Interstate 90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike) ...

linking

with

and

Logan International Airport General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partial ...

. The port has also seen a burgeoning

cruise A cruise is any travel on a cruise ship. Cruise or Cruises may also refer to: Tourism * Booze cruise * Music cruise * River cruise Aeronautics and aircraft * Cruise (aeronautics), a distinct stage of an aircraft's flight * Aviasouz Cruise, a R ...

industry as well as expanding commercial and residential developments on the Boston waterfront. Ever Fortune in Boston

With the completed Panama Canal expansion project allowing larger ships starting in 2016, the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

is dredging harbor access routes starting in 2017, deepening them from 40 to 47 to 51 feet. This will allow visits by container ships carrying up to 12,000 TEUs, up from 7000 TEUs, and reduce the amount of freight which is expected to be shipped to the

Port of New York and New Jersey The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the system of navigable wate ...

and trucked to Massachusetts. The project is estimated to cost $310 million and is paid for by the federal Water Resources Reform and Development Act (about two-thirds), Massport, and an additional allocation from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. New container cranes to support larger ships were installed in 2021. The first 12,000-TEU-class containership. ''Ever Fortune,'' arrived at Conley on January 16, 2022.

List of Collectors

Port facilities

Ground transportation

The Port of Boston has access to

, I-93,

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...

, and

U.S. 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...

, including a truck-only haul road. Track 61 runs through the port, but is being used by the MBTA as a test track. There is public transit access via the MBTA Silver line SL2 route.

Massport facilities

Tobin Bridge and Boston skyline, June 2017

The public facilities, operated by the Massport, are located in the neighborhoods of Charlestown,

, and

. These include: * Flynn Cruiseport Boston (''South Boston'') - This cruise terminal has been owned and operated by Massport since 1986. Running from April through November, during the 2016 cruise season the port welcomed 114 ships and over 300,000 passengers. Cruise destinations from Boston include Bermuda, Canada, Panama, San Diego, and Europe. Only vessel passengers are authorized to enter the Terminal's restricted areas; however, cruise-ship activity can be viewed from the Summer Street Bridge over the Reserved Channel and the small park at the southern end of the cruise terminal. In May 2017, the terminal was officially named in honor of former Boston mayor Raymond Flynn; it previously had been known as the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal, a former cargo building that had been remodeled in 1980, with additional remodelling and expansion in 2010 and 2015. *Conley Terminal (''South Boston'') - This terminal serves as the container facility for the Port of Boston. The terminal itself has been in use since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, when it was known as the Castle Island terminal. After Sea-Land pioneered

shipping container A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of ...

s in the mid-1960s, Castle Island became one of the first such terminals in the country. Massport built a second container terminal (Moran Container Terminal) in nearby Charlestown in the early 1970s. After Sea-Land's lease ended in 1980, Massport built a larger terminal on the Castle Island site, later named the Paul W. Conley Container Terminal, which opened in 1984. Massport dredged the entrance channel to a depth of in the mid-1990s. Today, the facility is capable of handling

Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

and

post-Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

container ships. As of 2019, Massport is expanding the facility westward into an adjacent brownfield site once used for oil storage, and has built a new entrance road. In November 2019, it received a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for additional improvements. In calendar year 2018, the terminal handled over 298,000 TEU's, up from 237,166 in 2015. Volumes have dropped dramatically due to the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, but are expected to rebound as supply chain problems resolve and additional carriers serve the port. :In June 2021, the terminal received three new ship-to-shore container cranes built in China, including two that are 205 feet high. In June 2022, the US Army Corp of Engineers completed a $350 million dredging project that will allow

ships to dock without waiting for high tide. The CSX railroad's double-stack container terminal in Worcester is an hour and half drive from the terminal. The improvements resulted in additional shipping routes tripling the number of ports that ship goods to and from Conley. The state has proposed extending Track 61 to connect Conley to the national rail network, to eliminate this as a competitive disadvantage compared to other East Coast ports, however land for a container to rail terminal nearby would be difficult to find and current rail clearances do not allow double-stack operations. *Boston Autoport (''Charlestown'') - Now dedicated exclusively to the processing and shipping of

automobiles A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

, this site once served as the common-use Moran Container Terminal. * Boston Fish Pier (''South Boston'') - The oldest continuously operated fish pier in the United States, this facility houses companies dedicated to the processing and shipment of seafood.

Non-Massport facilities

The Port of Boston has facilities dedicated to bulk cargo, petroleum, and LNG shipment and storage. These are primarily located on the Mystic River, notably along the city of Everett waterfront as well as the Chelsea River area of

, Chelsea, and Revere. The Chelsea River depots also contain facilities handling jet fuel for

. The

Deer Island Waste Water Treatment Plant The Deer Island Waste Water Treatment Plant (also known as Deer Island Sewage Treatment Plant) is located on Deer Island, one of the Boston Harbor Islands in Boston Harbor. The plant is operated by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority ...

, whose egg-shaped sludge digesters are major landmarks, ships treated sludge across the harbor by barge for further processing into fertilizer. The

US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, multi ...

has a base in Boston, and the sail

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed an ...

USS Constitution USS ''Constitution'', also known as ''Old Ironsides'', is a three-masted wooden-hulled heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She is the world's oldest ship still afloat. She was launched in 1797, one of six original frigates authorized ...

("Old Ironsides") is berthed at the former

, now part of the Boston National Historical Park. The park is also home to the USS Cassin Young, a

-era Fletcher-class destroyer and now a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

. The park's Drydock Number 1 was completed in 1833 and first used by the ''Constitution.'' It is now used to overhaul historic ships, including ''Constitution'' in 1992 and ''Cassin Young'' in 2007. Two other pre-World War II-era dry docks in the harbor are still operational (as of 2014), including Dry Dock Number 3 — one of the largest dry docks on the U.S. East Coast — which regularly repairs ships for the

Military Sealift Command Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all US ...

. These are located at the former

South Boston Naval Annex The South Boston Naval Annex was a United States Navy shipyard annex located in South Boston. It was the annex of the Boston Navy Yard, and was operational from the 1920 to 1974, when it was closed along with the main shipyard. The annex is also ...

. MBTA Boat,

water taxi A water taxi or a water bus is a watercraft used to provide public or private transport, usually, but not always, in an urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a similar manner to a bus, or ...

s, and private ferries and small cruise boats also use docks at Rowes Wharf, Long Wharf,

Boston Navy Yard The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. It was established in 1801 as part of the recent establishment of t ...

, Logan International Airport, Hewitt's Cove in Hingham,

Pemberton Point Pemberton Point (formerly known as Windmill Point) is a peninsula in Hull, Massachusetts. It is located at the tip of the Nantasket Peninsula, in Boston Harbor. History Historic manuscripts have called the location "Windmill Point" since the 18 ...

in Hull, and the

Fore River Shipyard Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on Quincy Point in 1901. I ...

in Quincy, and a number of small docks at destinations around the harbor. The

Boston Harborwalk Boston Harborwalk is a public walkway that follows the edge of piers, wharves, beaches, and shoreline around Boston Harbor. When fully completed it will extend a distance of from East Boston to the Neponset River. History The Harborwalk is a coo ...

provides public access to much of the harbor's edge.

Piers and wharves

Boston's port was historically served by many more wharves and pier facilities. Although Massport maintain the more notable ones, a handful of docking facilities in the Boston Harbor are maintained by private interests or other state agencies such as DCR. Further, some wharves have been converted to residential condominiums, or hotel accommodations. The Port's current and former wharves include: ;Piers * Boston Fish Pier * Commonwealth Pier *

Fan Pier Fan commonly refers to: * Fan (machine), a machine for producing airflow, often used for cooling ** Hand fan, an implement held and waved by hand to move air for cooling * Fan (person), short for fanatic; an enthusiast or supporter, especially wit ...

Piers Park Piers Park is a public park owned by Massport located on the southwest side of East Boston, overlooking Boston Harbor and downtown Boston. Designed by Pressley Associates Landscape Architects of Boston, the park was conceived to reclaim a condem ...

Piers Park Sailing Center Piers Park Sailing Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit community sailing organization located at 95 Marginal Street in East Boston, Massachusetts. The sailing center utilizes Boston Harbor and offers programs for a variety of ages and skill level ...

* Windmill Pier ;Wharves * Battery Wharf * Burroughs Wharf * Central Wharf *

Children's Wharf Children's Wharf (until recently known as Museum Wharf) is a wharf on Congress Street in Boston, Massachusetts, on the Fort Point Channel with views of the Financial District and Boston Harbor. The wharf has sitting areas, patches of lawn, and se ...

Commercial Wharf Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

Constellation Wharf A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the earliest constellation ...

* Constitution Wharf * Flagship Wharf * Griffin's Wharf *

India Wharf India Wharf (1804-c. 1962) in Boston, Massachusetts, flourished in the 19th century, when it was one of the largest commercial wharves in the port. The structure began in 1804 to accommodate international trade at a time when several other improve ...

Lewis Wharf Lewis Wharf is a showpiece of waterfront urban renewal in Boston's historic North End. The granite structures on the wharf were built as an early 19th-century shopping mall in the era before railroads when water transport was the most efficient wa ...

Lincoln Wharf Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

* Long Wharf *

Lovejoy Wharf North Station is a commuter rail and intercity rail terminal station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is served by four MBTA Commuter Rail lines – the Fitchburg Line, Haverhill Line, Lowell Line, and Newburyport/Rockport Line – and the Am ...

* Rowes Wharf *

Russia Wharf Russia Wharf is a completed high-rise building in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. The building rises and contains 32 floors. Construction began in 2006 and was finished in early 2011; as such, the structure is one of the most recently completed ...

* Sargent's Wharf *

T Wharf T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is deri ...

* Union Wharf

Foreign Trade Zone

Massport manages Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) No. 27, which includes many privately owned and port-owned sites located throughout Suffolk County, Massachusetts. The following Sub Zones are a part of The Port of Boston FTZ No. 27: * 27C Lawrence Textile * 27D GM * 27E Polaroid * 27F Polaroid * 27H Polaroid * 27I Polaroid * 27J Polaroid * 27K Polaroid * 27L AstraZeneca LP * 27M Reebok International * 27N Spectro Coating Corporation d/b/a Claremont Flock, LLC

Traffic and statistics

In 2015, the port handled 237,000

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

TEUs The twenty-foot equivalent unit (abbreviated TEU or teu) is an inexact unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports.Rowlett, 2004. It is based on the volume of a intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box whic ...

, 60,000

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

s, and 121,000 metric tons of

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixe ...

. Other major forms of cargo processed at the port include

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the vol ...

(LNG),

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywa ...

, and

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

. There were 328,305

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...

passengers that year. Some 114 vessel calls are scheduled for the 2016 cruise season. In the wake of the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, there have been concerns about the security of LNG shipments within

, and increased fear of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. Because of the location of the LNG terminal in the Mystic River, tankers traveling to and from the facility are forced to pass directly offshore of downtown Boston. During their voyage through the harbor, they are protected by a security zone that extends in front of the vessel, behind it, and more than half a mile on either side. This zone is enforced by escort vessels provided by the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

and

State Police State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction o ...

. The Tobin Bridge is closed as the escort passes under it, and boating is forbidden within the security zone. , there have been proposals to construct an offshore LNG facility on either Outer Brewster Island in the Harbor, or further afield in the wider Massachusetts Bay. The MBTA operates commuter boats between Long Wharf and Rowes Wharf on the downtown Boston waterfront to Hingham,

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

, Quincy, and Logan Airport as well as inner harbor ferries between downtown Boston, Charlestown, and South Boston. Other fast passenger ferries operate to Provincetown and Salem. Several companies operate

s on the harbor, whilst

s operate from various points on the downtown Boston waterfront, Logan Airport, Charlestown, East Boston, and South Boston. Ferries are also provided for travel amongst the harbor islands. There are occasionally marine accidents, as with a commuter ferry ''Massachusetts'' going from Boston's Rowes Wharf to Hull in June 2006.

Port Police

The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), which itself was constituted in 1956 maintains its own police force of POST certified and sworn

law enforcement officer A law enforcement officer (LEO), or peace officer in North American English, is a public-sector employee whose duties primarily involve the enforcement of laws. The phrase can include campaign disclosure specialists, local police officers, pr ...

s of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They work in conjunction with the

Massachusetts State Police The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, responsible for criminal law enforcement and traffic vehicle regulation across the state. As of 10/4/2022, it ...

—Troop F who also provide law enforcement services for Massport. Massport police officers also known as "Port Officers" are responsible for physical security and law enforcement at the marine terminals, Boston's Seaport District, East Boston parks and various other properties and lands owned by the authority.

International seaports agreements

* – Port of Dalian, China (2005) * – Panama Canal Authority, Panama (2005) ''Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)''

References

Specific

General

#Banner, David
"The History of Boston, Massachusetts." ''BOSTON HISTORY''
1997-2005. May 8, 2005. #Jourgensen, Thor (May 9, 2005)
Council to review LNG line project
''The Daily Item of Lynn.'' May 10, 2005.
"Boston Harbor and Approaches." ''Coast Pilot 1 - 35th Edition, 2005''
NOAA Office of Coast Survey. 35th Edition. May 15, 2005.

May 2005.

May 2005.

May 2005.

May 16, 2005. Boston Pilot Association
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External links

Flynn Cruiseport Boston
at

Conley Container Terminal
at

Boston Harbor soundings map
at

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

Boston Inner Harbor soundings map
at

The Boston Harbor Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Port Of Boston Boston Harbor Massachusetts Port Authority Geography of Boston Infrastructure in Boston

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Transportation in Boston Maritime history of the United States

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