A harbor ( American English ), or harbour ( Australian English , British English , Canadian English , Irish English , New Zealand 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.
15-822: The Gloucester Harbour Trustees are the competent harbour authority (CHA) for the tidal part of the River Severn from the Gloucester weirs ( Llanthony and Maisemore ) down to seaward of the Second Severn Crossing , on the Welsh side of the Severn Estuary (north of Denny Island ) from the Second Severn Crossing as far as Goldcliff , and on the River Wye up to its tidal limit ( Bigsweir ). Pilotage of vessels in
30-399: 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: For harbors near
45-455: A number of Sites of Special Scientific Interest . The estuary experiences one of the biggest tidal ranges in the world and a Severn Barrage is often under discussion to harness the energy generated by the tide. Competent harbour authority Competent harbour authorities (CHA) in the United Kingdom are those harbour authorities that have been given statutory powers relating to
60-643: 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. 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 are frequently built for use as ports. The oldest artificial harbor known
75-561: 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 . Other large and busy artificial harbors include: The Ancient Carthaginians constructed fortified, artificial harbors called cothons . A natural harbor is a landform where a section of
90-460: 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. Although the world's busiest port is a contested title, in 2017 the world's busiest harbor by cargo tonnage
105-586: The Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary was overseen by Bristol until 1861, when Cardiff, Newport and Gloucester took concerted action because of the increase in the trades using the ports of Cardiff, Newport and Gloucester and petitioned Parliament to press for the passing of the Bristol Channel Pilotage Act 1861 . This gave the ports the independence they sought. Pilotage commissioners were constituted for these ports with powers to license pilots for
120-969: The Pilotage Act to provide a reverse process, so that harbour authorities could be relieved of CHA status. A statutory harbour authority (SHA) is a different designation which permits harbours to charge dues and remove wrecks, as well as conferring the responsibility to maintain buoys and lighthouses within the area of the harbour. Statutory harbour authorities are regulated under the Harbours Act 1964 . All competent harbour authorities are also statutory harbour authorities. The following are those harbour authorities that are currently identified as CHAs: Harbour 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
135-597: The board consists of 10 members, who are appointed in line with the principles of the ‘Guide to Good Governance’ drawn up as part of the DETR’s Review of Trust Ports and in accordance with the provisions of the Gloucester Harbour Revision (Constitution) Order 2002 (which also sets out the boundaries of the Gloucester Harbour). The Gloucester Harbour Trustees, as competent harbour authority for this part of
150-426: The estuary. The trustees also established moorings at Northwick Oaze south of Aust and created a deeper channel so that larger vessels could reach Sharpness more easily. The trustees have responsibilities for navigational safety in that part of the estuary, and maintain a number of navigation aids (beacons, buoys and lighthouses), and a special 'Pilotwatch Radar' with portable sets for use by pilots. They also arrange
165-544: The harbour area so that ships could enter the port both by day and night. The following year this became the Gloucester Harbour Authority which, as well as being responsible for lights in the estuary, were tasked with controlling navigation there. Gloucester Harbour Authority later evolved into the Gloucester Harbour Trustees, which later relocated to Sharpness; it is responsible for all pilotage in
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#1732844853092180-546: The non-compulsory pilotage of ships in the Bristol Channel and River Severn bound for these ports, each port having a defined area of jurisdiction. After a new dock was built in Sharpness in 1874 that was capable of handling larger vessels, the number of ships visiting the Gloucester docks declined and the custom house was moved to Sharpness. The Sharpness Lighthouse Authority was set up in 1888 to provide aids to navigation throughout
195-591: The provision of pilotage in their waters. The description was created by the Pilotage Act 1987 , at which point a CHA had to be one whose harbour was wholly or partly within a pilotage district where at least one act of pilotage had been performed, or where a pilotage exemption certificate had been in force, between 1984 and 1987. However, the act provided a procedure by which other harbour authorities could be assigned CHA status and some harbours have taken advantage of this process. The Marine Navigation Act 2013 amended
210-583: The provision of pilots which are compulsory for most commercial shipping and other vessels over 30m LOA in the GHT area. The main commercial traffic within the GHT area is to the port of Sharpness , and some sand dredging . The harbour, which has one of the world's highest tidal ranges, includes both the present road crossings and two riverside nuclear sites (one at Oldbury decommissioning, one at Berkeley decommissioning). The trustees were originally constituted in 1890 and initially comprised some 22 trustees. Today
225-561: The river, have issued safety guidance for surfers, canoeists, small craft and river bank users in relation to the Severn bore , a phenomenon of the Severn Estuary and lower parts of the river under certain tidal conditions. The Gloucester Harbour Trustees area, especially above Sharpness, includes many areas of interest to environmentalists. These include extensive mud flats and grassland areas on which migrating and resident birds feed and include
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