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Harbour Information

A harbor or harbour (see spelling differences), or haven, is a place 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.

Contents

Artificial harbors

Artificial harbors are frequently built for use as ports. The largest artificially created harbor is Jebel Ali in Dubai.[1] Other large and busy artificial harbors are located in: Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Houston, Texas; Long Beach, California; and San Pedro, California.

Natural harbors

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.

Ice-free harbors

Main article: Ice-free port

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, formerly Petsamo, Finland); Vladivostok, 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]

Tidal harbor

A tidal harbor is a type of harbor that can only be entered or exited at certain tidal levels.[3]

Important harbors

The tiny harbour at the village of Clovelly, Devon, England

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.[4]

The following are large natural harbors:

Port Jackson, Sydney

Other notable harbors include:

See also

Notes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Harbors
  1. ^ Hattendorf, John B. (2007), The Oxford encyclopedia of maritime history, Oxford University Press, p. 590, ISBN 9780195130751
  2. ^ U.S. Polar Programs National Science Foundation FY2000.
  3. ^ Port Cities - tide harbour
  4. ^ AAPA World Port Rankings 2006

Categories: Ports and harbours | Coastal construction | Nautical terms

 

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'Harbour' Definition

Noun

Harbour Wikipedia harbour (plural harbours) (UK, Canadian)
  1. (obsolete, uncountable) Shelter, refuge.
  2. A place of shelter or refuge.
    The neighbourhood is a well-known harbour for petty thieves.
  3. (obsolete) A house of the zodiac.
    • Late C14: To ech of hem his tyme and his seson, / As thyn herberwe chaungeth lowe or heighe — Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Franklin’s Tale’, Canterbury Tales
  4. A sheltered area for ships; a piece of water adjacent to land in which ships may stop to load and unload.
    The city has an excellent natural harbour.
Derived terms
from: Wiktionary: harbour,
Sat Jun 18 13:44:01 2011
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