Harbor
A harbour, harbor or haven is a place where ships may shelter from the weather. Harbours can be man-made or natural. A man-made harbour will have sea walls or breakwaters. A natural harbour will be surrounded on most sides by land. Harbours and ports are often confused. Most ports have a harbour, but many harbours would not be described as ports.
The port is a man-made coastal or riverine facility where boats and ships can load and unload. It may consist of quays, wharfs, jetties, piers and slips with cranes or ramps. A port may have magazine buildings or warehouses for storage of goods and a transport system, such as railway, road transport or pipeline transport facilities for relaying goods inland.
During the D-Day operations of 1944, two artificial harbours (codenamed Mulberry) were built just off the invasion beaches.
Natural harbours have long been of great strategic and economic importance. Many of the great cities of the world are located where they are because of an excellent natural harbour.
Ice-free harbours
For harbours near the poles, being ice-free is an important advantage, ideally all-year round. Examples are Murmansk (Russia), Petsamo (Russia, formerly Finland), Vardø, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia (Canada).
The mystery of the second largest natural harbour
The identity of the second largest natural harbour in the world is apparently a matter of some controversy. There is no dispute that Sydney Harbour is the world's largest, but several towns and cities across the world use in their promotional material the claim that they possess the second largest. These places include:
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