Today's Port—A Trade and Transport Hub

Abstract

Although land and air transport have greatly expanded, man's historic dependence on water transport continues. Ocean fleets have doubled in size since World War II, and 1960 water-borne world trade stood at a record 1.1 billion tons. This vast commerce moves through the ports of the world, which, thus, are barometers of trade, wealth, and power. Ports, casual affairs during the Middle Ages, became of great interest in the period of world exploration and colonization and received another great impetus during the industrial revolution and from steam navigation. Water access to all boundaries of the United States provided further impetus as the resources of North America affected world trade. Ports, created by massive engineering effort, are economic centers functioning through a variety of physical improvements and human skills. They are intensely competitive. Uniquely, ports mirror the economies of the regions they serve. They are sensitive to growth of population and industry, to raw-material patterns, to government policy. They serve but do not in themselves create trade. Free ports are rapidly declining in importance due to intense nationalism. The port authority is a unique instrument combining governmental and economic functions. Ships and ports continue to be the basic mechanisms for vast world trade.