Harbor

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For other uses, see Harbor (disambiguation).
File:Lower Manhattan Areal April 2013b.jpg
New York Harbor and the Hudson River in the foreground; the East River in the background
File:Jebel Ali Port 2 Imresolt.jpg
The Jebel Ali harbor is the largest man-made harbor in the world.
A panoramic view of Carry-le-Rouet harbour in France, showing rows of docked boats and yachts surrounded by seaside buildings and palm-lined streets under a clear sky.
Carry Le Rouet harbour in France
File:Montevideouruguaynasa.jpg
Montevideo's natural harbor is clearly seen from above.
File:Capri harbour from Anacapri 2013.jpg
Capri harbor, Italy seen from Anacapri
File:Koyilandy harbour 03720.jpg
Koyilandy Harbour, Kerala, India

A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be moored. 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. Harbors usually include one or more ports. Alexandria Port in Egypt, meanwhile, is an example of a port with two harbors.

Harbors may be natural or artificial. An artificial harbor can have deliberately constructed breakwaters, sea walls, or jetties or they can be constructed by dredging, which requires maintenance by further periodic dredging. An example of an artificial harbor is Long Beach Harbor, California, United States, which was an array of salt marshes and tidal flats too shallow for modern merchant ships before it was first dredged in the early 20th century.[1] In contrast, a natural harbor is surrounded on several sides by land. Examples of natural harbors include Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia, Halifax Harbour in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Trincomalee Harbour in Sri Lanka.

Artificial harbors

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Artificial harbors are frequently built for use as ports. The oldest artificial harbor known is the Ancient Egyptian site at Wadi al-Jarf, 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 in Dubai.[2] Other large and busy artificial harbors include:

The Ancient Carthaginians constructed fortified, artificial harbors called cothons.

Natural harbors

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See also: List of deepest natural harbours
File:ANTARA FOTO-Eric Ireng TERMINAL PETIKEMAS SURABAYA.jpg
Tanjung Perak is a famous example of a natural harbor in Indonesia. The harbor location in Madura Strait.

A natural harbor is a landform 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 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:

Ice-free harbors

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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:

The world's southernmost harbor, located at Antarctica's Winter Quarters Bay (77° 50′ South), is sometimes ice-free, depending on the summertime pack ice conditions.[3]

Important harbors

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File:Harbour.clovelly.arp.750pix.jpg
The tiny harbor at the village of Clovelly, Devon, England
File:Skillshare, Alter Hafen Lüneburg.jpg
Old Harbor in Lüneburg, Germany
File:Port of Piraeus Panoramic View.JPG
The harbor of Piraeus in Greece
File:PortJackson 2004 SeanMcClean.jpg
Port Jackson, Sydney
File:Gorey Harbour at low tide.JPG
The harbor of Gorey, Jersey falls dry at low tide.
File:Punta del este3.jpg
Punta del Este's harbor – nicknamed the Monte Carlo of South America[4][5][6]
File:Aberystwith Harbour.jpeg
The harbor in Aberystwyth, painted c. 1850

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.[7]

The following are large natural harbors:

File:Mk Stettin Hafen2.jpg
Port of Szczecin, Poland
File:Puerto Valpo nublado.jpg
Valparaíso, Chile

See also

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Notes

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  2. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  3. ^ U.S. Polar Programs Archived 2021-10-11 at the Wayback Machine National Science Foundation FY2000.
  4. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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  • Error creating thumbnail: File missing Media related to Lua error in Module:Commons_link at line 62: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). at Wikimedia Commons
  • File:Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg The dictionary definition of harbor at Wiktionary
  • Harbor Maintenance Finance and Funding Congressional Research Service
  • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).

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