Introduction

Ports are the nodes of the world's maritime transport system. Every voyage of a ship must begin and end at a port. Their size and distribution will therefore both reflect and contribute to the pattern of maritime transport described in Chapter 17 (Shipping). Since the maritime transport system is part of a much larger global transport system, including road, rail, river and canal transport and the interchanges between all the modes, the factors that determine the location and growth (and decline) of ports are manifold, and go well beyond an assessment of the marine environment. These non-marine factors (such as land and river transport connections, location of population and industry and size of domestic markets) will determine, to a large extent, the development of ports and, therefore, the way in which they affect the marine environment. Nodes, however, can become bottlenecks, restricting the free flow of trade. Before the economic crisis of 2008, there were fears that port capacity could limit the development of world trade (UNCTAD, 2008). That problem has receded with the widespread economic slow-down, but could easily re-appear. This would lead to increased pressure for new port developments.

Just as containerization has transformed general cargo shipping from the mid-20th century onwards, so it has also transformed the nature of the ports that container ships use. In the past, ports relied on large numbers of relatively unskilled dockworkers to do the physical work of loading and unloading general cargo, often on a basis of casual labour, with no security of regular work. Containerization and parallel improvements in the handling of bulk cargoes have transformed this situation. Ports now require smaller numbers of much more skilled workers, and even more investment in handling equipment.

Scale and magnitude of port activity

Ports can be classified in several different ways. Some ports are dedicated to a single function (such as the handling of oil). Others are general, handling a variety of trades. Some are private, used for the traffic of one trader (or a small number of traders). Others are general, open to shipping in general. Some are designed for bulk traffic, both dry and liquid. Others are for general cargo, which today usually implies containers. And some ports are a mix of these various categories. (This chapter does not deal with marinas and other harbours for recreational vessels: those are covered in Chapter 27 (Tourism and recreation)).