Port Business

Chapter 3

Major Commercial Ports

3.1Classification of Ports

Professional port databases like the IHS Sea-web24 port database contain information of more than 10,000 ports and terminals around the globe. Today ports are the facilitator of globalization and they handle more than 90% of the world trade. But not all ports are of equal importance for the global economy. Some ports handle massive amounts of cargo, measured in millions of tons, whereas other ports are comparably small in tonnage, but important for the country, for example, by connecting islands to the mainland, as cruise or passenger ports, or as river ports, functioning as a link from a landlocked country to an overseas hub port. Figure 3.1 classifies all ports.

Figure 3.1: The ...