In
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
a
port authority (less commonly a
port district) is a governmental or quasi-governmental public authority for a
special-purpose districtThere are two types of special-purpose districts in the United States: school districts and special districts. Please see the Wikipedia entry on school districts for a discussion of those. This article will describe special districts. Special districts typically have "district" or "authority" in...
usually formed by a legislative body (or bodies)
to create and support economic development within that area.
Port authorities are usually governed by boards or commissions,
which are commonly appointed by governmental chief executives, often from different jurisdictions.
In
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
a
port authority (less commonly a
port district) is a governmental or quasi-governmental public authority for a
special-purpose districtThere are two types of special-purpose districts in the United States: school districts and special districts. Please see the Wikipedia entry on school districts for a discussion of those. This article will describe special districts. Special districts typically have "district" or "authority" in...
usually formed by a legislative body (or bodies)
to create and support economic development within that area.
Port authorities are usually governed by boards or commissions,
which are commonly appointed by governmental chief executives, often from different jurisdictions. For example, in Canada the federal
Minister of TransportThe Minister of Transport is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government's transportation regulatory and development department, Transport Canada...
selects one board member, the local chief executive one, and the rest of the board are at the recommendation of port users to the federal Minister. In Canada all port authorities have a federal or Crown charter called
Letters PatentLetters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of an open letter issued by a monarch or government, granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or to some entity such as a corporation. The opposite of letters patent are letters close , which are personal in nature...
.
Most port authorities are financially self-supporting. In addition to owning land, setting fees, and sometimes levying taxes, port districts can also operate shipping terminals, airports, railroads, and
irrigationIrrigation is an artificial application of water to the soil. It is usually used to assist in growing crops in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
facilities.
In
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
the federal government created sixteen port administrations in 1994-1995 called
Administración Portuaria Integral (
API) in Spanish, as result of the
Ley de Puertos of 1993.
These are organized as variable capital corporations (
Sociedad Anónima de Capital Variable or
S.A. de C.V.), with the
intent of creating more private investment in a state owned sector.
Numerous Caribbean nations also have port authorities, including those of Aruba, British Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Central and South America also have port agencies such as
autoridad and
consorcio (authority and consortium).
Port Authorities and Districts
The distinction between inland and being marine is occasionally open to discussion. No distinction is made here between river and Great Lakes ports.
Port Authorities
With date of Letters Patent.
Atlantic
- Belledune, 29 March 2000
- Halifax
The Halifax Port Authority is a port authority operating as a not-for-profit Crown corporation of the Government of Canada. HPA has responsibility for all federally-owned waterfront properties on Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality.The HPA was created on March 1, 1999...
, 1 March 1999
- Saint John, NB, 1 May 1999
- Sept-Îles, 1 May 1999
- St. John's, NL, 1 May 1999
Great Lakes
- Hamilton, Pending
- Oshawa
Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario approximately 60 kilometres east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of both the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe...
, Pending
- Thunder Bay
-In Canada:Thunder Bay is the name of two places in the province of Ontario, Canada along Lake Superior:*Thunder Bay District, Ontario, a district in Northwestern Ontario*Thunder Bay, a city in Thunder Bay District*Thunder Bay, Unorganized, Ontario...
, 1 July 1999
- Toronto
Toronto Port Authority is a Canadian Port Authority responsible for all activities in the Port of Toronto, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, including the Toronto City Centre Airport...
, 8 June 1999
- Windsor, 1 July 1999
|
Pacific
- Fraser Riverhttp://www.fraserportauthority.com/, 1 May 1999
- Nanaimo, 1 July 1999
- North Fraser, 1 July 1999
- Port Alberni, 1 July 1999
- Prince Rupert
The Prince Rupert Port Authority is a port authority operating as a not-for-profit Crown corporation of the Government of Canada. PRPA has responsibility for all federally owned waterfront properties on Prince Rupert Harbour, located in and around the city of Prince Rupert on the North Coast of...
, 1 May 1999
- Vancouver
The Port of Vancouver was the name of the largest port in Canada, the largest in the Pacific Northwest, and the largest port on the West Coast of North America by metric tons of total cargo with 76.5 million metric tons...
, 1 March 1999
St. Lawrence Seaway
- Montréal
The Port of Montreal, located in Canada's second largest metropolis, is one of the busiest on the North American continent, and the largest inland port on Earth. It has been judged one of the safest, and one of the most advanced on the planet, with most of the movement done solely by computers and...
, 1 March 1999
- Québec, 1 May 1999
- Saguenay, 1 May 1999
- Trois Rivières, 1 May 1999
|
Other agencies
United States
Charter date in parenthesis.
Atlantic
- Bridgeport Port Authority, CT (1992)
- Canaveral Port Authority, FL (1939)
- Chesapeake Port Authority, MD and VA (1987)
- Dade County Seaport Department, Miami, FL (1960)
- Delaware River Port Authority
The Delaware River Port Authority or DRPA is a bi-state port district located within the State of New Jersey and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The agency's links the two states across the Delaware River.-Board of commissioners:...
, NJ and PA (1951)
- Diamond State Port Corporation/Port of Wilmington, DE (1994)
- Eastport Port Authority, ME (1977)
- Port Everglades, FL (1927)
- Georgia Ports Authority
The Georgia Ports Authority is the administrative agency of the U.S. state of Georgia that oversees the development, maintenance and operation of two deepwater seaports and two inland ports in the state. The GPA was established in 1945 by State Ports Authority Act #422 and is currently...
(1945)
- Jacksonville Port Authority (1963)
- Port of Miami
- Maine Port Authority
- Maryland Port Administration (1971)
- Massachusetts Port Authority
Massachusetts Port Authority, or Massport, is a port district in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It operates seaports and airports in eastern and central Massachusetts, mainly the Port of Boston.-Airports:* Logan International Airport* L.G...
(1956)
- New Hampshire State Port Authority (1957)
- Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state port district, established in 1921 through an interstate compact, that runs most of the regional transportation infrastructure, including the bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the New York–New Jersey Port District...
(1921)
- North Carolina State Ports Authority (1945)
- Port of Palm Beach District
The Port of Palm Beach is located in Riviera Beach, Florida, in Palm Beach County. The Port is an independent taxing district, with a five-member board of commissioners elected at large by voters within the district. The Port district covers a land area of or approximately fifty percent of the...
(1915)
- Philadelphia Regional Port Authority
The Port of Philadelphia, within the municipal boundaries of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is located near the navigable end of the Delaware River, 94 miles south of New York City and 134 miles north of Washington, D.C...
, PA (1989)
- Port of Ponce, PR (1911)
- Puerto Rico Ports Authority (1942)
- South Carolina State Ports Authority (1942)
- South Jersey Port Corporation, NJ (1968)
- Virgin Islands Port Authority, VI (1969)
- Virginia Port Authority, VA (1970)
- Westover Metropolitan Development Corporation (1974)
Gulf of Mexico
- Alabama State Port Authority
The Port of Mobile, located in Mobile, Alabama, United States, is the only deep-water port in the state, and was the 10th largest in the nation in 2006. It is located along the Mobile River where it empties into Mobile Bay...
, (2000)
- Port of Beaumont Navigation District of Jefferson County, TX
The Port of Beaumont is a deep-water port located in Beaumont, Texas.It is the fourth busiest port in the United States according to the American Association of Port Authorities and the thirty-fourth largest in the world in terms of tonnage. It is also the busiest military port in the U.S...
(1949)
- Brazos River Harbor Navigation District, Freeport,TX (1927)
- Brownsville Navigation District (1925)
- Calhoun County Navigation District, Port Lavaca/Point Comfort, TX (1953)
- Port of Corpus Christi Authority (1926)
- Port of Galveston
The Port of Galveston is the port of the city of Galveston, Texas. It was established by a proclamation issued by the Congress of Mexico on October 17, 1825, while the land known today as Texas was still part of Mexico. The Port of Galveston is the oldest port in the Gulf of Mexico west of New...
(1825)
- Port of Houston
The Port of Houston is the port of Houston, Texas, the fourth-largest city in the United States. The Port is a 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico...
Authority (1910)
- Jackson County Port Authority, Pascagoula, MS (1956)
- Lake Charles Port Harbor & Terminal District, LA (1924)
- Manatee County Port Authority, FL (1967)
- Mississippi State Port Authority/Gulfport (1960)
- Board of Commissioners of the New Orleans
The Port of New Orleans is a port located in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the 5th largest port in the United States based on volume of cargo handled, second-largest in the state after the Port of South Louisiana, and 12th largest in the U.S. based on value of cargo...
, LA (1896)
- Port of Pensacola, FL (1976)
- Harbor & Terminal District Plaquemines Port, LA (1977)
- Panama City Port Authority, FL (1979)
- Port of Port Arthur Navigation District, TX (1963)
- Port Isabel-San Benito Navigation District, TX (1928)
- South Louisiana Port Commission
The Port of South Louisiana is the largest volume shipping port in the Western Hemisphere and 9th largest in the world.
, (1968)
- Harbor & Terminal District St. Bernard Port Harbor, LA (1981)
- Tampa Port Authority
The Port of Tampa is located on the western coast or Suncoast of Florida, approximately 25 miles from open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The boundaries of the Port district includes parts of Tampa Bay, Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Hillsborough River, and Old Tampa Bay.The port of Tampa is the...
, FL (1945) |
Inland / Great Lakes
- Albany Port District Commission (1925)
- Port Authority of Allegheny County
Port Authority of Allegheny County is the second-largest public transit agency in Pennsylvania and the 11th-largest in the United States. When considering that its service area is the 20th largest in the U.S...
, PA (1956)
- Greater Baton Rouge Port Commission, LA (1952)
- Brown County Board of Harbor Commissioners, Green Bay, WI (1965)
- Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority (1981)
- Duluth Seaway Port Authority, MN (1929)
- Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority (1962)
- Illinois International Port District, Chicago (1955)
- Indiana Port Commission
The Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal is an artificial waterway on the southwest shore of Lake Michigan, in East Chicago, Indiana which connects the Grand Calumet River to Lake Michigan. It consists of two branch canals, the 1.25 mile Lake George Branch and the 2 mile long Grand Calumet River Branch...
(1961)
- Port of Kalama, WA (1921)
- Port of Longview, WA (1922)
- Lorain Port Authority, OH (1964)
- Port of Milwaukee
- Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, Buffalo (1967)
- Orange County Navigation Port District, TX (1953)
- Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority, NY
- Port of Oswego Authority (1955)
- City of Richmond Port Commission
Also known as the Richmond Deepwater Terminal, the Port of Richmond is located on the James River in Richmond, Virginia, 100 miles from Cape Henry and approximately 78 miles north of Newport News, Virginia. It is located at 77° 25' west latitude and 37° 27' north longitude and lies adjacent to...
, VA (1982)
- Port of Sacramento, CA (1947)
- Port of Stockton
The Port of Stockton is a major inland deep water port in Stockton, California located on the San Joaquin River before it joins the Sacramento River to empty into Suisun Bay, eighty miles inland...
(1932)
- Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority
The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority is a port authority financing and/or operating air, rail, trucking, and port facilities, as well as supporting and funding economic development activities in Lucas County, located in northwest Ohio and bordering on southeast Michigan.-Mission:The Port...
(1955)
- Waukegan Port District (1955)
Pacific
- Port of Anacorteshttp://www.portofanacortes.com/, WA (1926)
- Anchorage Port Commission
The Port of Anchorage is the most active port in the U.S. state of Alaska, through which 95% of all cargo in and out of Alaska passes...
, AK (1946)
- Port of Astoria, OR (1910)
- Port of Bellingham
The Port of Bellingham is a government agency in Bellingham, Whatcom County, Washington, United States which operates two large marinas, port facilities and the ....
(1920)
- Port of Coos Bay
The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay is a port of the Pacific coast of the United States, located in Coos Bay near the city of Coos Bay, Oregon. It is the largest deep-draft coastal harbor between San Francisco Bay and Puget Sound, and is Oregon's second busiest maritime commerce center after...
(1909)
- Port of Everetthttp://www.portofeverett.com/, WA (1917)
- Port of Grays Harborhttp://www.portofgraysharbor.com/ (1911)
- Port Authority of Guam (1975)
- Humboldt Bay Harbor Recreation & Conservation District
The Humboldt Bay Harbor Recreation & Conservation District, created in 1972 by local voters, manages the Port of Humboldt Bay, including port facilities of Eureka, the primary city of the region, and much larger facilities on the shore of the adjacent peninsula, known as Samoa...
, CA (1970)
- Long Beach City Harbor Department
The Port of Long Beach, also known as Long Beach’s Harbor Department, is the 2nd busiest seaport in the United States. It adjoins the separate Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for U.S.-Asian trade, the port occupies of land with of waterfront in the city of Long Beach, California...
, CA (1909)
- Port of Longview, Washington (1921)
- Los Angeles City Harbor Department
The Port of Los Angeles, also called Los Angeles Harbor and WORLDPORT L.A., is a port complex that occupies 7,500 acres of land and water along 43 miles of waterfront. The port is located on San Pedro Bay in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, approximately 20 miles south of downtown...
, CA (1907)
- Port of Newport, OR (1964)
- Port of Oakland
The Port of Oakland was the first major port on the Pacific Coast of the United States to build terminals for container ships. It is now the fourth busiest container port in the United States; behind Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Newark...
, CA (1926)
- Port of Olympia (1922)
- Oxnard Harbor District, Hueneme, CA (1937)
- Port of Port Angeles, WA (1923)
- Port of Portland
The Port of Portland is the port district responsible for overseeing Portland International Airport, general aviation, and marine activities in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area in the United States....
, OR (1891)
- Port of Redwood City (1937)
- Port of Richmond, CA (1982)
- Commonwealth Ports Authority of Saipan, MP (1981)
- Port of San Diego
The Port of San Diego is a self-supporting Non-governmental organization public benefit corporation established in 1962 by an act of the California State Legislature. In 2007, The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics ranked the Port of San Diego as one of America's top 30 U.S. containership...
(1962)
- San Francisco Port Commission
The Port of San Francisco lies on the western edge of the San Francisco Bay near the Golden Gate. It has been called one of the three great natural harbors in the world, but it took two long centuries for navigators from Spain and England to find the anchorage originally called Yerba Buena. A port,...
(1969)
- Port of Seattle
The Port of Seattle is a port district that runs Seattle's seaport and airport. Its creation was approved by the voters of King County, Washington, on September 5, 1911, authorized by the Port District Act. It is run by a five-member commission. The commissioners' terms run four years...
(1911)
- Port of Skamania County, WA (1960s)
- Port of Tacoma (1918)
- Port of Vancouver, WA (1912)
|
Mexico
Listed from northwest to southeast. API is
Administración Portuaria Integral.
Central America
Asia Pacific
- Sri Lanka Ports Authority
Sri Lanka Ports Authority is a government agency responsible for developing and maintaining all commercial ports of Sri Lanka, including the Colombo Harbour. Its responsible for maintaining and operating lighthouses in Sir Lanka...
- Port of Shanghai
The Port of Shanghai, located in the vicinity of Shanghai, comprises a deep-sea port and a river port. In 2005, with a total of 443 million tons of cargo transported, it was the world's busiest port by cargo tonnage and has kept this title in 2006 and 2007....
- Port of Singapore
The Port of Singapore refers to the collective facilities and terminals that conduct maritime trade handling functions in Singapore's harbours and which handle Singapore's shipping...
- Port of Kaohsiung
The Port of Kaohsiung is the largest harbor in Taiwan, handling approximately 10 million twenty-foot equivalent units worth of cargo in 2007. The port is located in southern Taiwan, adjacent to Kaohsiung City, surrounded by the city districts of Gushan, Yancheng, Lingya, Cianjhen, Siaogang, and...
- Port of Niihama
- Port of Kitakyūshū
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom operators of ports and harbours become
de facto Port Authorities under several pieces of legislation. Examples include the:-
- Port of London Authority
The Port of London Authority is a public trust established in 1908 by the Port of London Act to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames. The authority originally operated all the enclosed dock systems on the river...
External links