Harbours and

Ports
 Contents
• Definition: Harbor, Port
• Site selection of Harbor
• Ports
• Factors to be considered in design and
location of harbor
 Definition
• Harbour: A harbor or harbour, or haven, is a body of water
where ships, boats, and barges can seek shelter from stormy 
weather, or else are stored for future use.
• Harbors can be natural or artificial. An artificial harbor has
constructed breakwaters, sea walls, or jettys, or otherwise, they
could have been constructed by dredging, and these require
maintenance by further periodic dredging.
• In contrast, a natural harbor is surrounded on several sides by 
prominences of land.
• Harbors and ports are often confused with each other. A port is a
facility for loading and unloading vessels; ports are usually
located in harbors.
 Artificial Harbor

• Port Jebel Ali(Dubai): Largest artificially created harbor

Port Jebel Ali, Dubai
 Natural Harbor

• Vishakapatnam Natural Harbor

 Site selection
• Availability of cheap land and building
materials
• Transport and communication facilities
• Natural protection from winds and waves
• Industrial development of locality
• Seabed, subsoil and foundation conditions
• Traffic potentiality of the harbor
• Favorable marine conditions
 Ports
• A port is a location on a coast or shore containing
one or more harbors where ships can dock and
transfer people or cargo to or from land.
• Port locations are selected to optimize access to
land and navigable water, for commercial
demand, and for shelter from wind and waves.
• Since ports handle every kind of traffic, support
and storage facilities vary widely, may extend for
miles, and dominate the local economy.
Karachi Port
Kandla Port
 Factors to be considered in design and
location of harbor
• Coastal currents, silting, littoral drift or coast
erosion
• Tides and tidal range
• Wind, waves and their combined effect on
harbor structures.
Littoral zone: Marine ecological realm that extends from the high water mark,
which is rarely inundated, to shoreline areas that are permanently submerged.
Littoral Drift
• Littoral or longshore drift is the movement
of sediments or sands along a coast
parallel to the shoreline. Longshore drift
arises when waves approach the shore
obliquely. Waves striking the shore at an
angle, as opposed to straight on, cause
the water that washes up to the shore
(wave swash) to move up the beach at an
angle. The swash moves sediment
particles up the beach. The backwash or
seaward current brings sediment particles
away from the beach. This has the net
effect of a slow movement of the particles
along the shore.A net movement of water
also occurs, establishing a longshore
current. Longshore drift is one of the
principal processes in the overall
sustainability of beach deposits.
Longshore currents and longshore drift
are generally considered to be
constructive processes.
Longshore current: Swash and Backwash
 Longshore
current
Harbor should not be constructed in
the path of littoral drift, there will be
accumulation of sand on one side
and erosion on the other side of the
harbor.
This process of carrying away and
depositing materials is created by
waves impinging on the shore line.
Littoral Current
Tides
Neap Tide
Neap Tide
Spring Tide
Spring Tide
 Use of Tide

• Effect of tides is to artifically raise and lower the mean

sea level during certain stated periods. This apparent
variation of MSL is known as “Tidal Range”.
• Allowance will have to be made for this variation in
designing and constructing harbor structures.
 Waves
Caused by:
• Wind
• Earthquakes
• Gravitational force of the Moon and
Sun.
Waves and Winds
 Parts of a Wave
• Crest – highest point of a wave
• Trough – lowest point of a wave
• Wave Height – vertical distance between
the crest and the trough
• Wavelength – horizontal distance
between two crests or two troughs
 Wavelength

Crest
Wave
Height

Still Water

Trough

Wave Parts
 Wave Action
• The size of a wave depends on its fetch. The fetch is the distance a
wave travels. The greater the fetch, the larger the wave. Wind also
has a significant effect on the size of waves. The stronger the wind
the larger the wave.
• As a wave approaches a beach it slows. This is the result of friction
between the water and the beach. This causes a wave to break.
 Wave Action

Fetch = area of ocean or lake surface over which the wind blows in an essentially constant
direction, thus generating waves. The term also is used as a synonym for fetch length, which is
the horizontal distance over which wave-generating winds blow.
 Constructive Waves
• Constructive waves build beaches. Each wave is low.
As the wave breaks it carries material up the beach in
its swash. The beach material will then be deposited as
the backwash soaks into the sand or slowly drains
away. These waves are most common in summer.
 Destructive Waves
• Destructive waves destroy beaches. The waves are usually
very high and very frequent. The back wash has less time to
soak into the sand. As waves continue to hit the beach there
is more running water to transport the material out to sea.
these waves are most common in winter.
 Wave Movement
• When a wave breaks against the
shore, the crest outruns the trough
and the crest collapses.
• In this case, water does move
forward and backward.
 Wave Action
• A seawave when breaking against an obstacle
or structure gives rise to various important
forces as;
– A direct Hz Force causing compression
– A deflected Vt force tending to shear away any
projections on the face of wall
– A downward Vt force due to collapse of the wave,
which tends to distrub the foundation of sea bed.
– A suction due to return of the water after striking.
 Wave Action(cont’d)
• Theoretical evaluation of these forces is
practically impossible. So a few factors are
considered to guide for construction of sea
structures
– Dynamic effect of wave action
– Air compression
– Water hammer
 Dynamic effect of wave action
• The reaction of a surface subjected to
continued impacts could be measured by the
rate of destruction of the momentum,
– Mass of water impinging on unit surface = w.v/g
– Rate of dissipation of momentum = w.v.v/g
– Therefore, reaction of the surface on which wave
strikes = w.v.v/g = p
W = weight of unit volume of water, v = velocity of
waves, g = gravitational acceleration.
Dynamic effect of wave action( Deep waters)

• When depth of water is great compared to the

length of wave, velocity is almost equal to that
caused by a freely falling body through a
height equal to half the radius of circle, the
circumference of which constitutes the length
of wave.
– V = √(2gl/4∏)
– L = h. ∏, therefore V = √(5h), therefore p = 5wh/g
 Dynamic effect of wave action (shallow
waters)
• In shallow water, it has been found that
velocity v = 3.16 √(d)
• D = depth of water
• Therefore p = w.10.d/g
 Air Compression
• The maximum internal pressure on an
imprisoned air column in the pores of
structures, will be equal to as much as 3.5
times the pressure of water on the face of the
wall
• Therefore such seawalls should be constructed
where air compression is greatly reduced
owing to numerous void spaces in the wall
through which pressure relieves itself.
 Water hammer
• This hydraulic phenomena produces a
maximum pressures inside the joints and
pores of the masonry structure. But if there is
sufficient air cushion at the end of the
opening, much of the effect is reduced.
 Harbor features
• Berth
• Breakwaters
• Quays and Wharfs
• Jetty
• Pier and Pierhead
• Dolphins
• Docks
 Moorings
• A mooring refers to any permanent structure
to which a vessel may be secured. Examples
include quays, wharfs, jetties, piers, anchor 
buoys, and mooring buoys. A ship is secured
to a mooring to forestall free movement of the
ship on the water. An anchor mooring fixes a
vessel's position relative to a point on the
bottom of a waterway without connecting the
vessel to shore
 Mooring

Number Name Purpose

1 Bow line Prevent backwards

movement
2 Forward Breast line Keep close to pier
Prevent from
3 After Bow Spring line advancing
Forward Quarter Prevent from moving
4
Spring line back
5 Quarter Breast line Keep close to pier
Prevent forwards
6 Stern line
movement
 Berth (Moorings)
• Berth is the term used in ports and harbors for a
designated location where a vessel may be moored,
usually for the purposes of loading and unloading.
• Most berths are alongside a quay or a jetty (large
ports) or a floating dock (small harbors and
marinas). Berths are either general or specific to the
types of vessel that use them. The size of the berths
varies from 5-10m for a small boat in a marina to
over 400m for the largest tankers.
 BERTH
• Any place where a ship can safely lie alongside
a quay, pier or dock, at anchor or a buoy, and
where she can carry out loading/discharge
operations or embark and disembark
passengers is called a berth
 Wharf and Quay
• Wharf denotes any structure of timber, masonry,
cement, or other material built along or at an
angle to the navigable waterway, with sufficient
depth of water to accommodate vessels and
receive and discharge cargo or passengers. The
term can be substituted for quay when applied
to great solid structures in large ports. The
area between the quay wall (made of solid
masonry) and the nearby warehouse or storage
facility is ca1led the quay apron.
 Wharf

Quay
 Jetties
• Jetties are long dams or groynes extending into the sea for
hundreds to thousands of metres. They are designed to make
harbour entrances navigable for large ships. The idea is that the
current of the outgoing tide becomes strong and focussed enough
(a jet) to gouge a deep entrance channel between the jetties.
Jetties
 Piers
• A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and
building supports and walkways, typically
supported by widely spread piles or pillars. The
lighter structure of a pier allows tides and
currents to flow almost unhindered, whereas
the more solid foundations of a quay or the
closely spaced piles of a wharf can act as a 
breakwater, and are consequently more liable
to silting.
 Breakwater
• A breakwater is a structure constructed for the purpose of
forming an artificial harbour with a basin so protected
from the effect of waves as to provide safe berthing for
fishing vessels
• Breakwaters are required for the protection of artificial
and semi-natural harbors. Their location and extent will
depend upon:
– The direction of the maximum waves.
– The configuration of the shore line.
– The minimum size of the harbor required for the anticipated
traffic in the port.
 Types of Breakwater
• There are two main types of fixed
breakwaters, the mound type and the wall
(vertical) type
• Mound type include (1) natural rock, (2)
concrete block, (3) a combination of rock and
concrete block, and (4) concrete shapes such
as tetra pods, quadrupeds and others.
 Types of Breakwater (Cont’d)
• Vertical type of Breakwater includes
– 1) concrete-block gravity walls,
– 2) concrete caissons,
– 3) rock-filled sheet pile walls,
– 4) Concrete or steel-pile walls.
• The type of breakwaters is usually determined by:
– 1) The availability of materials at or near the site.
– 2) The depth of water.
– 3) The condition of the sea bottom.
– 4) The function of the breakwater in the harbor.
– 5) The equipment suitable and available for its
construction.

• The depth of water and the character of the bottom

are important factors in the design of breakwater
since most breakwaters are gravity structures,
which depend upon their weight for stability.
 Rock Mound Breakwaters
• They are mainly classified into the following
two types according to the method of
construction:
– (1) A rock mound in which the core material
extends above water level and is covered with an
envelop of armor rock sometimes separated from
the core material by one or more intermediate
layers
Rock Mound Breakwaters (Cont’d)
– (2) rock mound in which the core fill is stopped a
considerable depth below water level and covered
with a medium weight rock, which forms the base
for the heavy armor capping
 Rock Mound Breakwater Type I
• In the first type of construction, called end type, the
core is extended out from the shore by end or side
dumping from trucks which operate on top of the
core as it is brought up above water level. This
requires the top of the core to be above the highest
water level and the material out of which it is
constructed to be broken rock of sufficient size with
a minimum amount of fines, so that it will not be
washed away by the waves during the period of
construction
Rock Mound Type I
 Rock Mound Type II
• The second type of construction is based on
the core being placed as dredged material.
The top of the core is at a considerable
distance below water level and the core is
covered with a medium- weight rock to a level
about equal to the height of the wave below
mean sea level, where it forms a base on
which to place the heavier armor rock
extending to the top of the breakwater.
Rock Mound Type II
 Rock Mound Breakwater
• Advantages:
– Easy to be constructed, since it does not need skill
labors or special equipments.
– Can be constructed on weak sea bottom.
– Can be constructed on unleveled sea bottom.
– The maintenance is easy from the technical point
of view.
– Technically, it can be constructed in any depth.
– Waves do not reflect on its surface.
 Rock Mound Breakwater
• Disadvantages
– Needs a considerable amount of construction
materials.
– Continuous maintenance is required.
– Sometimes there are difficulties in erection, as the
rock weight increases with the increase of wave
heights.
– Can’t be used for ship berthing.
 Artificial Concrete Blocks
• They are used where natural rock is not available, or it can
not be produced economically or in large enough size
required for armoring the breakwater.
• Artificial blocks are usually made of plain concrete but rarely
are reinforced. They are formed of devised irregular-shaped
concrete units tested before being used in the field.
• The more common ones which have been testes quite
extensively are tetra pods, quadrupeds, hexapods, tribars,
modified cubes, akmons, and dolosse.
• Other new shapes of concrete units have been developed,
tested and used in protective cover layers of rubble-mound
breakwaters in the past few years
Artificial Concrete Blocks
 Vertical Type Breakwater
• Unaided vertical solid breakwater design should not be attempted in waters
deeper than 2metres and exposed to strong wave action.

• Vertical solid breakwaters are only suitable when the foundation is a firm
surface (rock, stiff clay, coral reef); thick sand deposits may also be suitable
under certain conditions.

• In the presence of thick sand deposits, a rubble foundation with adequate

scour protection as shown in Figure 10 is recommended lest strong tidal
streams, water currents or wave turbulence scour away the sand underneath
the foundation.

• The core of a solid breakwater should be cast in concrete; not more than 50
percent of this concrete may be replaced by pieces of rock or “plums”.
Vertical Type Breakwater
Comparison of Breakwater types
Breakwater to protect shore
Breakwater to protect shore
Brighton Marina was constructed in the open sea, from precast concrete caissons sunk to
the seabed, in the early 1970s. The Marina now supports high quality residential property
and various retail and leisure units. It has a large pleasure craft mooring facility; fishing and
dive boats also operate out of the Marina
 Docks
• Docks are enclosed areas for berthing ships, to
keep them afloat at a uniform level, to
facilitate loading and unloading of cargo.
• Docks are classified into two categories:
– Wet docks
– Dry docks
 Wet Docks
• A wet dock or impounded dock is a Dock in
which the water is impounded either by dock
gates or by a lock, thus allowing ships to remain
afloat at low tide in places with high tidal ranges.
• The level of water in the dock is maintained
despite the raising and lowering of the tide. This
makes transfer of cargo easier.
• It works like a lock which controls the water level
and allows passage of ships
 Dry Docks
• A dry dock is a narrow basin or vessel that can
be flooded to allow a load to be floated in,
then drained to allow that load to come to
rest on a dry platform.
• Dry docks are used for the construction,
maintenance, and repair of ships, boats, and
other watercraft
 Types of Dry Docks
• Graving Dock
• Marine railway Dock
• Floating Dock
Graving Dock
Graving Dock
Graving Dock
Graving Dock
• The graving dock, is a narrow basin,
usually made of earthen berms and
concrete, closed by gates , into which
a vessel may be floated and the
water pumped out, leaving the vessel
supported on blocks.
• The keel blocks as well as the bilge
block are placed on the floor of the
dock in accordance with the "docking
plan" of the ship. More routine use
of dry docks is for the cleaning
(removal of barnacles and rust) and
re-painting of ship's hulls.
Graving Dock
 Advantages
• It can accommodate bigger size vessels when compared to other dry docking
systems
• It is cheaper for dry-docking a similar sized vessel as compared to other types
• The graving dry dock can be used to perform retrofitting, modification etc.
which is difficult to achieve in other types
• The supply of spares, machinery, services to graving dock is very much
accessible due to its location-based near the land
• New advanced graving docks have welding, hot-work and other workshop
located inside the dock in an elevated surface (above the water surface when
the dock is filled) giving quick access and workflow in the dock
• A bigger graving dock can be used to repair more than two ships at a time
and some modern graving docks have two gates at both ends, making it
easier to repair and re-float the ships independently
 Disadvantages
• When re-flooding the dock, all the machinery and equipment
needs to be taken out from the dock, which takes time.
• The maintenance cost of the graving dock increases as per the age
of the dock and becomes very high.
• Any problem with the dock gate will make the whole dock non-
operational
• The docking and undocking process in the graving dock takes time
as compare to other types
• If the dock holds multiple ships for repair, the complete operation
needs to be stopped if any one of the vessels needs to be taken
out of the dry dock as it will require filling of water for refloating
 Marine railway
• A marine railway is a mechanical means of
hoisting a ship out of the water along an
inclined plane.
• Lift capacities range from 100 to 6,000 tons.
Theoretically, even larger sizes are possible,
but generally the floating dock becomes a
more economical alternative
 Advantages
• Low initial construction cost
• Fast operating
• The track slope can fit the natural slope of the
shore in many cases. This eliminates or reduces
dredging or bulk-heading requirements.
• Vessels can be transferred to and from the shore
relatively easily.
• Vessels longer than the dock cradle can be
docked by overhanging the bow and/or stern.
 Disadvantages
• The track is a fixed structure and cannot be
moved easily. This makes it harder to sell, thus
harder to finance.
• It is a mechanical system that requires
periodic replacement of some moving parts
(hauling chains, rollers, etc.)
• Underwater maintenance is required.
• The vessels can damage the track.
 Floating Dock
• A floating dock is a steel, iron or timber floating construction
designed to raise ships out of the water, that their under-water
portions may be inspected and, if need be, painted or repaired.
• A Floating Dry Dock is basically a structure capable of being
submerged by the admission of water to its interior
compartments, at which stage a ship is floated into position
over a properly predisposed area of the submerged dock.
• The structure is then raised by the removal or pumping out the
water from its interior compartments. In this manner the ship is
lifted above the surface of the water so that work may be
performed on its bottom
 Advantages
• They can be propelled to the location of a salvage vessel near the
harbour
• They are cheaper to maintain as compare to graving docks and can get a
higher resalable return
• They can be installed near or away from the shore inside the harbour,
making them a portable and space-saving structure without taking space
of the shore facility
• Additional mooring equipment is needed for the floating dock to make it
stable
• The floating dry dock can be altered and increased in size in all
dimensions by extensive retrofitting/ rebuilding
• They can also be split into two different floating docks independent of
each other
 Disadvantages
• The supply of store, equipment, and manpower
is usually done from one access point gangway
which makes the operation slow
• The floating dry dock operation will effect if
there are tides or during windy weather
• When re-flooding the dock, all the machinery
and equipment needs are to be taken out from
the dock which takes time