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58-715: Port Nolloth is a town and small domestic seaport in the Namaqualand region on the northwestern coast of South Africa , 144 kilometres (89 mi) northwest of Springbok . It is the seat of the Richtersveld Local Municipality . The port was previously a transshipment point for copper from the Okiep mines, and diamonds from the Namaqua coast. Since the 1970s the principal seagoing activities have been fishing and small-vessel tourism. Today

116-461: A centre for the transshipment of sea cargo to inland destinations. A smart port uses technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) to be more efficient at handling goods. Smart ports usually deploy cloud-based software as part of the process of greater automation to help generate the operating flow that helps the port work smoothly. At present, most of

174-610: A crucial role in the Battle of Salamis against the Persians in 480 BCE. In ancient India from 3700 BCE, Lothal was a prominent city of the Indus valley civilisation, located in the Bhal region of the modern state of Gujarāt . Ostia Antica was the port of ancient Rome with Portus established by Claudius and enlarged by Trajan to supplement the nearby port of Ostia. In Japan, during

232-545: A diamond diver in Port Nolloth and moved to the town in the 1980s. Once here, she started taking an interest in Port Nolloth and conducted research on its history and collected artifacts and photographs for a period of 20 years. To make her discoveries known by the people of the town, she opened the Port Nolloth Museum. The museum houses an eclectic collection of items including: The museum also contains

290-551: A duration of 10 days, an optimal period for biological production. It is estimated that the annual biomass production in the Benguela system is 4.7×10 gC/y , making the Benguela system 30 to 65 times more productive per unit area than the global ocean average. While upwelling promotes abundant primary and secondary production in the upper parts of the water column and near the coast, deeper waters with limited oxygen exchange create hypoxic areas called oxygen minimum zones at

348-904: A fishing port to be uneconomical. A marina is a port for recreational boating. A warm-water port (also known as an ice-free port) is one where the water does not freeze in winter. This is mainly used in the context of countries with mostly cold winters where parts of the coastline freezes over every winter. Because they are available year-round, warm-water ports can be of great geopolitical or economic interest . Such settlements as Narvik in Norway , Dalian in China , Murmansk , Novorossiysk , Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Vostochny Port in Russia , Odesa in Ukraine , Kushiro in Japan and Valdez at

406-419: A large collection of photographs and artifacts from the time of copper ore shipments between 1854 and 1920. With the development of mining, the Port Nolloth harbour became a greater significance as one of two harbours used for the export of copper ore and more importantly, for the import of food and capital equipment. The museum also contains photos and artifacts of the diamond mining period. The town declined in

464-711: A port or nearby. Modern ports will have specialised cargo -handling equipment, such as gantry cranes , reach stackers and forklift trucks . Ports usually have specialised functions: some tend to cater mainly for passenger ferries and cruise ships ; some specialise in container traffic or general cargo; and some ports play an important military role for their nation's navy. Some third world countries and small islands such as Ascension and St Helena still have limited port facilities, so that ships must anchor off while their cargo and passengers are taken ashore by barge or launch (respectively). In modern times, ports survive or decline, depending on current economic trends. In

522-424: A ship on its sailing itinerary. At these ports, cargo ships may take on supplies or fuel, as well as unloading and loading cargo while cruise liners have passengers get on or off ship. A fishing port is a port or harbor for landing and distributing fish. It may be a recreational facility, but it is usually commercial. A fishing port is the only port that depends on an ocean product, and depletion of fish may cause

580-516: A ship to sail from the ocean inland to the port to load or unload its cargo. An example of this is the St. Lawrence Seaway which allows ships to travel from the Atlantic Ocean several thousand kilometers inland to Great Lakes ports like Toronto , Duluth-Superior , and Chicago . The term inland port is also used for dry ports . A seaport is a port located on the shore of a sea or ocean. It

638-502: A small semi-automated container port (with links to the Port of Felixstowe , the UK's largest container port) thrived for some years, but has been hit hard by competition from the emergent London Gateway port and logistics hub. In mainland Europe, it is normal for ports to be publicly owned, so that, for instance, the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam are owned partly by the state and partly by

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696-402: A survey of the coastline to locate a suitable harbour from which to ship the copper ore . Aukwatowa bay was surveyed in 1854, and selected for a future port based largely on its sheltered aspect from offshore winds. A rudimentary quay was built in 1855, wide enough to accommodate the horse-drawn wagons that carried the copper ore from Okiep to the port. A small service town rapidly developed and

754-665: A third of the world's shipping containers , half of the world's annual supply of crude oil , and is the world's busiest transshipment port . Europe's busiest container port and biggest port by cargo tonnage by far is the Port of Rotterdam , in the Netherlands. It is followed by the Belgian Port of Antwerp or the German Port of Hamburg , depending on which metric is used. In turn, the Spanish Port of Valencia

812-623: A wide environmental impact on local ecologies and waterways, most importantly water quality, which can be caused by dredging, spills and other pollution . Ports are heavily affected by changing environmental factors caused by climate change as most port infrastructure is extremely vulnerable to sea level rise and coastal flooding . Internationally, global ports are beginning to identify ways to improve coastal management practices and integrate climate change adaptation practices into their construction. Wherever ancient civilisations engaged in maritime trade, they tended to develop sea ports. One of

870-404: Is further categorized as commercial and non-commercial: Cargo ports are quite different from cruise ports, because each handles very different cargo, which has to be loaded and unloaded by a variety of mechanical means. Bulk cargo ports may handle one particular type of cargo or numerous cargoes, such as grains, liquid fuels, liquid chemicals, wood, automobiles, etc. Such ports are known as

928-688: Is often lower because of both direct and indirect pollution from the shipping, and other challenges caused by the port's community, such as trash washing into the ocean. Sewage from ships, and leaks of oil and chemicals from shipping vessels can contaminate local water, and cause other effects like nutrient pollution in the water. Ports and their infrastructure are very vulnerable to climate change and sea level rise, because many of them are in low-lying areas designed for status quo water levels. Variable weather, coastal erosion, and sea level rise all put pressure on existing infrastructure, resulting in subsidence , coastal flooding and other direct pressures on

986-722: Is the busiest port in the Mediterranean basin, while the Portuguese Port of Sines is the busiest atlantic port. The Port of Trieste , Italy , is the main port of the northern Adriatic and starting point of the Transalpine Pipeline . The largest ports include the Port of South Louisiana , a vast sprawling port centered in the New Orleans area, Houston , Port of New York/New Jersey , Los Angeles in

1044-512: Is the largest port in the world in both cargo tonnage and activity. It regained its position as the world's busiest port by cargo tonnage and the world's busiest container port in 2009 and 2010, respectively. It is followed by the ports of Singapore , Hong Kong and Kaohsiung , Taiwan , all of which are in East and Southeast Asia . The port of Singapore is the world's second-busiest port in terms of total shipping tonnage, it also transships

1102-401: Is the port where cruise ship passengers board (or embark ) to start their cruise and disembark the cruise ship at the end of their cruise. It is also where the cruise ship's supplies are loaded for the cruise, which includes everything from fresh water and fuel to fruits, vegetables, champagne, and any other supplies needed for the cruise. "Cruise home ports" are very busy places during the day

1160-593: Is well-defined, with many temporary and seasonal eddies and meanders. There is however a well-defined thermal front between the waters associated with the Benguela Upwelling System and those of the eastward flowing Atlantic currents which are not deflected northward by the African continent. The icy Benguela and the warm, south-flowing Agulhas current do not meet off the Cape of Good Hope (see diagram on

1218-464: Is when a native species with no natural predator is all of a sudden prey of an invasive specie. Indirect interaction can be diseases or other health conditions brought by invasive species. Ports are also a source of increased air pollution as a result of ships and land transportation at the port. Transportation corridors around ports have higher exhaust emissions and this can have related health effects on local communities. Water quality around ports

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1276-675: The Edo period , the island of Dejima was the only port open for trade with Europe and received only a single Dutch ship per year, whereas Osaka was the largest domestic port and the main trade hub for rice. Post-classical Swahili kingdoms are known to have had trade port islands and trade routes with the Islamic world and Asia. They were described by Greek historians as "metropolises". Famous African trade ports such as Mombasa , Zanzibar , Mogadishu and Kilwa were known to Chinese sailors such as Zheng He and medieval Islamic historians such as

1334-640: The London Gateway . Ideally, a port will grant easy navigation to ships, and will give shelter from wind and waves. Ports are often on estuaries, where the water may be shallow and may need regular dredging . Deep water ports such as Milford Haven are less common, but can handle larger ships with a greater draft, such as super tankers , Post-Panamax vessels and large container ships . Other businesses such as regional distribution centres , warehouses and freight-forwarders, canneries and other processing facilities find it advantageous to be located within

1392-532: The Namib desert and on average receives about 72 millimetres (2.8 in) of precipitation per year. The Port Nolloth Museum is situated in Port Nolloth, a small town and domestic seaport located in the Namaqualand region of the Northern Cape . The building which houses the museum was built in 1880 and was only transformed into a museum in the 2000s. Showcasing the rich history and culture of Port Nolloth

1450-533: The Oranjemund , which visited the port fortnightly to exchange supplies for fish and diamonds. 61 metres long but with a draft of only 4.4 metres, the Oranjemund was well-suited for the navigational difficulties of the bay. However, the gradual reduction in diamond discoveries made the long voyage from Cape Town uneconomic, and the Oranjemund was withdrawn from service in 2006. Port activity now consists of minor fishing vessels and recreational boating. Silting of

1508-606: The Port of Buenos Aires in Argentina. Benguela Current The Benguela Current / b ɛ ŋ ˈ ɡ ɛ l ə / is the broad, northward flowing ocean current that forms the eastern portion of the South Atlantic Ocean gyre . The current extends from roughly Cape Point in the south, to the position of the Angola-Benguela Front in the north, at around 16°S . The current is driven by

1566-468: The "bulk" or "break bulk ports". Ports that handle containerized cargo are known as container ports . Most cargo ports handle all sorts of cargo, but some ports are very specific as to what cargo they handle. Additionally, individual cargo ports may be divided into different operating terminals which handle the different types of cargoes, and may be operated by different companies, also known as terminal operators, or stevedores . A cruise home port

1624-415: The 1970s as the volume of diamond exports decreased. The diamonds in Port Nolloth are now almost all gone and divers are struggling to make a living. It is very rare that a big haul gets mined with a value over R500 000 in any given trip. Income now average between R30 000 and R40 000 per month for the more experienced divers. After 1976, large-scale shipping at Port Nolloth was reduced to a single tanker,

1682-447: The 205-ton South African freighter Border ran aground to the south of the port while attempting to ride out a storm. In December 1950, the 400-ton freighter Bechuana suffered a similar fate. In the years following these wrecks, efforts were made to improve port access with the underwater blasting of the coastal reef. The attempt was partially successful but the bay remained a challenging prospect. Demand for port access also declined in

1740-628: The Benguela Niño, warm, salty waters from the Angola Current move southward, between 15°S and 25°S . This slab of warm salty water extends to 150 km (93 mi) offshore and to 50 m (164 ft) depth. Heavy rains, changes in fish abundance, and temporal proximity to the Pacific El Niño have been observed; however, the causes and effects of the Benguela Niño are not well understood. One research team has shown that

1798-420: The Benguela system, phytoplankton growth requires a period of upwelling followed by a period of stratification and relatively calm waters. The phytoplankton bloom usually lags the upwelling event by 1 to 4 days and blooms for 4 to 10 days. In order for zooplankton to have a continuous food supply, the phytoplankton blooms must not occur too far apart. Pulses of upwelling in the Benguela system regularly have

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1856-814: The Berber Islamic voyager Abu Abdullah ibn Battuta . Many of these ancient sites no longer exist or function as modern ports. Even in more recent times, ports sometimes fall out of use. Rye, East Sussex , was an important English port in the Middle Ages, but the coastline changed and it is now 2 miles (3.2 km) from the sea, while the ports of Ravenspurn and Dunwich have been lost to coastal erosion . Whereas early ports tended to be just simple harbours, modern ports tend to be multimodal distribution hubs , with transport links using sea, river, canal, road, rail and air routes. Successful ports are located to optimize access to an active hinterland , such as

1914-415: The Netherlands. Ports with international traffic have customs facilities. The terms "port" and "seaport" are used for different types of facilities handling ocean-going vessels, and river port is used for river traffic, such as barges and other shallow-draft vessels. An inland port is a port on a navigable lake, river ( fluvial port), or canal with access to a sea or ocean, which therefore allows

1972-1149: The U.S., Manzanillo in Mexico and Vancouver in Canada. Panama also has the Panama Canal that connects the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, and is a key conduit for international trade. The largest port in Oceania is the Port of Melbourne . According to ECLAC 's "Maritime and Logistics Profile of Latin America and the Caribbean", the largest ports in South America are the Port of Santos in Brazil, Cartagena in Colombia, Callao in Peru, Guayaquil in Ecuador, and

2030-488: The UK, both the ports of Liverpool and Southampton were once significant in the transatlantic passenger liner business. Once airliner traffic decimated that trade, both ports diversified to container cargo and cruise ships. Up until the 1950s the Port of London was a major international port on the River Thames , but changes in shipping and the use of containers and larger ships have led to its decline. Thamesport ,

2088-468: The bay. By the early 1900s, the sheltered aspect that had attracted surveyors fifty years before was proving too difficult for larger vessels, several of which ran aground on a coastal reef extending across the channel. The difficulties of the harbour and expensive ship repairs encouraged the development of an alternative transport route and by 1910 most Okiep ore was being carried by truck to the railhead at Bitterfontein in preference to shipments direct from

2146-533: The cities themselves. Even though modern ships tend to have bow-thrusters and stern-thrusters, many port authorities still require vessels to use pilots and tugboats for manoeuvering large ships in tight quarters. For instance, ships approaching the Belgian port of Antwerp , an inland port on the River Scheldt , are obliged to use Dutch pilots when navigating on that part of the estuary that belongs to

2204-399: The coastal shelf and upper coastal slope. The Benguela oxygen minimum zone starts around a depth of 100 m and is a few hundred meters thick. Bacteria that use sulphur rather than oxygen, called sulphur-reducing bacteria , reside in the oxygen minimum zone. The most abundant fishes in the Benguela system are Sardinops and Engraulis . The Southern African pilchard ( S. s. ocellatus ),

2262-413: The cruise ship is in port, because off-going passengers debark their baggage and on-coming passengers board the ship in addition to all the supplies being loaded. Cruise home ports tend to have large passenger terminals to handle the large number of passengers passing through the port. The busiest cruise home port in the world is the Port of Miami , Florida . A port of call is an intermediate stop for

2320-671: The depths of the Atlantic Ocean close inshore, joined further off-shore by nutrient poor water that has crossed the Southern Atlantic from South America as part of South Atlantic Gyre . Eddies from the warm South Indian Ocean Agulhas current along South Africa's east coast come round the Cape of Good Hope from time to time to join the Benguela current. The Benguela current is 200 to 300 km wide and widens further as it flows north and northwest. Its western, seaward edge

2378-440: The early 1900s but was revived with the discovery of alluvial diamonds in the area in 1926. The harbour was deepened and enlarged in the 1970s and diamond mines, diamond diving and fishery continue to operate in the area Seaport Ports are extremely important to the global economy; 70% of global merchandise trade by value passes through a port. For this reason, ports are also often densely populated settlements that provide

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2436-421: The harbour floor has further reduced the draft, and only the smallest vessels can access the 67-metre quay. The cold Benguela Current in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of South Africa moderates the climate of the coastal region to a huge degree. The average daily maximum in summer is only just above 20 °C (68 °F) with a variation of less than 4 degrees between the hottest and coldest months of

2494-724: The labor for processing and handling goods and related services for the ports. Today by far the greatest growth in port development is in Asia, the continent with some of the world's largest and busiest ports , such as Singapore and the Chinese ports of Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan . As of 2020, the busiest passenger port in Europe is the Port of Helsinki in Finland . Nevertheless, countless smaller ports do exist that may only serve their local tourism or fishing industries. Ports can have

2552-651: The port. There are several initiatives to decrease negative environmental impacts of ports. The World Port Sustainability Program points to all of the Sustainable Development Goals as potential ways of addressing port sustainability. These include SIMPYC , the World Ports Climate Initiative , the African Green Port Initiative , EcoPorts and Green Marine . The port of Shanghai

2610-492: The port. With ore shipments declining, the Port was revived in 1926 with the discovery of alluvial diamonds along the coast to the north and south of the town. A rush of prospectors and investment re-established Port Nolloth as a substantial service centre, even as copper shipments ceased altogether in 1944. The inability of larger vessels to enter the port led to a series of disasters as ships attempted to anchor offshore rather than seek shelter in poor weather. In April 1947,

2668-499: The prevailing south easterly trade winds. Inshore of the Benguela Current proper, the south easterly winds drive coastal upwelling , forming the Benguela Upwelling System. The cold, nutrient rich waters that upwell from around 200–300 m (656–984 ft) depth in turn fuel high rates of phytoplankton growth, and sustain the productive Benguela ecosystem. Source waters for the Benguela include cold upwelled waters from

2726-526: The right, above), but there is a body of water off the South African south coast, east and particularly west of Cape Agulhas that consists of eddies from both currents, so that offshore water temperatures along the south coast of Africa vary chaotically. Northward winds along the coast result in Ekman transport offshore and upwelling of nutrient-rich deep water to the euphotic zone . The intensity of

2784-539: The terminus of the Alaska Pipeline owe their very existence to being ice-free ports. The Baltic Sea and similar areas have ports available year-round beginning in the 20th century thanks to icebreakers , but earlier access problems prompted Russia to expand its territory to the Black Sea . A dry port is an inland intermodal terminal directly connected by road or rail to a seaport and operating as

2842-539: The town is a sleepy commercial hub with a number of holiday homes and a caravan park at the adjacent McDougalls Bay. It is also a gateway to the Richtersveld National Park , located 160 kilometres (99 mi) to the north along the Orange River . The bay upon which the port sits was known by the indigenous Namaqua people as Aukwatowa ("Where the water took away the old man"). Its location

2900-411: The upwelling event is determined by wind strength. Variations in wind strength result in pulses of upwelling, which propagate to the south along the coast with speeds of 5 to 8 m/s. The pulses are similar to a Kelvin wave , except on a scale of 30 to 60 km instead of 1000 km, and can propagate around the Cape depending on wind systems. Pulses of upwelling induce biological production. In

2958-414: The water column, and can stir up pollutants captured in the sediments. Invasive species are often spread by the bilge water and species attached to the hulls of ships. It is estimated that there are over 7000 invasive species transported in bilge water around the world on a daily basis Invasive species can have direct or indirect interactions with native sea life. Direct interaction such as predation,

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3016-537: The world's oldest known artificial harbors is at Wadi al-Jarf on the Red Sea . Along with the finding of harbor structures, ancient anchors have also been found. Other ancient ports include Guangzhou during Qin dynasty China and Canopus , the principal Egyptian port for Greek trade before the foundation of Alexandria . In ancient Greece, Athens' port of Piraeus was the base for the Athenian fleet which played

3074-766: The world's ports have somewhat embedded technology, if not for full leadership. However, thanks to global government initiatives and exponential growth in maritime trade, the number of intelligent ports has gradually increased. A report by business intelligence provider Visiongain assessed that Smart Ports Market spending would reach $ 1.5 bn in 2019. Ports and their operation are often a cause of environmental issues, such as sediment contamination and spills from ships and are susceptible to larger environmental issues, such as human caused climate change and its effects. Every year 100 million cubic metres of marine sediment are dredged to improve waterways around ports. Dredging, in its practice, disturbs local ecosystems, brings sediments into

3132-475: The year at Port Nolloth. On average the temperature reaches 30 °C (86 °F) on only 15 days per year, compared to an average of 220 days per year at Vioolsdrif , less than 100 kilometres (62 mi) to the north-east. The west coast is regularly frequented by a thick fog bank rolling in from the cold ocean, a phenomenon locally known as the Malmokkie . Port Nolloth is located in the southern part of

3190-660: Was intensely fished in the 1950s and peaking in 1968 with landings over 1.3 million tons. Since then, fishery of the Sardinops has declined and fishery of the Southern African anchovy ( Engraulis capensis ) has taken over. Similar to the Pacific El Niño , a thick slab of warm, nutrient-poor water enters the northern part of the Benguela upwelling system off the Namibia coast about once per decade. During

3248-453: Was marked by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias on his epic voyage around the Cape of Good Hope in 1487. It was the last landfall he sighted before a wild storm blew his ship off course and out to sea for 30 days. The land surrounding the bay remained virtually uninhabited until James Alexander 's discovery in 1852 of copper at Okiep , 160 kilometres (99 mi) inland from the bay. The Cape Colony administration immediately commenced

3306-458: Was named Port Nolloth by Cape Colony Governor Sir George Grey , in honour of its surveyor, Captain M.S. Nolloth. In 1874, the wagons were replaced by the 154 km (96 mi) long Namaqualand Railway between the mine and the port and the quay was lengthened to 67 m (220 ft). However, while the railway significantly improved overland transport to the port, the increasing size of ore carriers began to create navigational difficulties in

3364-635: Was the core idea of the museum as it has artifacts, photographs and relics from up to hundreds of years ago. The museum was founded by Grazia de Beer who was born in Italy and moved to South Africa in her early years to attend the Springfield Convent school in Cape Town . She later went on to study a BA degree at the University of Cape Town . Upon completion, she wed Coen de Beer who was

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