Editing Port (section)

{{short description|Maritime facility where ships may dock to load and discharge passengers and cargo}}
{{about|the facility for ships}}
[[File:Manhattan.jpg|thumb|The [[Port of New York and New Jersey]], U.S., grew from the original [[New York Harbor|harbor]] at the convergence of the [[North River (Hudson River)|Hudson River]] and the [[East River]] at the [[Upper New York Bay]].]]
A '''port''' is a [[maritime law|maritime]] facility comprising one or more [[wharves]] or loading areas, where ships load and discharge [[Affreightment|cargo]] and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as [[Port of Hamburg|Hamburg]], [[Port of Manchester|Manchester]] and [[Duluth]]; these access the sea via [[river]]s or [[canal]]s. Because of their roles as [[ports of entry]] for immigrants as well as soldiers in wartime, many port cities have experienced dramatic multi-ethnic and multicultural changes throughout their histories.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the City|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediacity00cave|url-access=limited|last=Caves|first=R. W.|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=9780415252256|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediacity00cave/page/n568 528]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/deep-roots-of-modern-democracy/maritime-geography/D05F8B35C9751FBF1FD158F33AA671E1 |title=The Deep Roots of Modern Democracy: Geography and the Diffusion of Political Institutions |author1=John Gerring |author2=Brendan Apfeld |author3=Tore Wig |author4=Andreas Forø Tollefsen |year=2022 |page=45 |publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref>

Ports are extremely important to the global economy; 70% of global merchandise trade by value passes through a port.<ref name=":1">{{Cite report|url=https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ser-rp-2017d18_en.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125030926/https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ser-rp-2017d18_en.pdf |archive-date=2020-11-25 |url-status=live|title=Port Industry Survey on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation|last1=Asariotis|first1=Regina|last2=Benamara|first2=Hassiba|date=December 2017|publisher=UN Conference on Trade and Development|last3=Mohos-Naray|first3=Viktoria}}</ref> For this reason, ports are also often densely populated settlements that provide 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 <!--NOT a DAB page-->[[World's busiest ports|world's largest and busiest ports]],<!--Please don't add {{dab needed}} tag-it's a LIST--> such as [[Port of Singapore|Singapore]] and the [[China|Chinese]] ports of [[Port of Shanghai|Shanghai]] and [[Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan|Ningbo-Zhoushan]]. As of 2020, the [[List of busiest cruise ports by passengers|busiest passenger port in Europe]] is the [[Port of Helsinki]] in [[Finland]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/pdfscache/6652.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722062428/http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/pdfscache/6652.pdf |archive-date=2017-07-22 |url-status=live|title=Maritime ports freight and passenger statistics|publisher=[[Eurostat]]|access-date=18 June 2020}}</ref> Nevertheless, countless smaller ports do exist that may only serve their local tourism or fishing industries.

Ports can have 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]].<ref name=":1" /> Internationally, global ports are beginning to identify ways to improve [[coastal management]] practices and integrate [[climate change adaptation]] practices into their construction.<ref name=":1" />