Introduction – A Multifaceted Approach to the Seaport

Ports are multifaceted entities providing economic, social, and environmental value. A port is defined as a transit area, a gateway through which goods and people move from and to the sea. It is a place of contact between land and maritime space, a node where ocean and inland transport lines meet and intertwine; an intermodal place of convergence. Ports come in various sizes and functions and cannot be narrowed down to the geographical notion of a delimited spatial area.