Port of Boston Totally Explained

Everything about Boston Harbor totally explained

The Port of Boston is a major seaport located in Boston Harbor and adjacent to the City of Boston. It is the largest port in Massachusetts as well as being one of the principal ports on the east coast of the United States.
The Port of Boston was historically important for the growth of the City of Boston, and was originally located in what is now the downtown area of the city. Land reclamation and conversion to other uses means that downtown area no longer handles commercial traffic, although there's still considerable ferry and leisure usage of the downtown waterfront. Today the principal cargo handling facilities are located in the Boston neighborhoods of Charlestown, East Boston, and South Boston, and in the neighbouring city of Everett.

Geography

Boston Harbor is a large harbor which constitutes the western extremity of Massachusetts Bay. The harbor is sheltered from Massachusetts Bay and the open Atlantic Ocean by a combination of the Winthrop Peninsula and Deer Island to the north, the hooked Nantasket Peninsula and Point Allerton to the south, and the harbor islands in the middle. The harbor is often described as being split into an inner harbor and an outer harbor.

Outer harbor

The outer harbor stretches to the south and east of the inner harbor. To its landward side, and moving in an anti-clockwise direction, the harbor is made up of the three large bays of Dorchester Bay, Quincy Bay and Hingham Bay. To seaward, the two deep water anchorages of President Roads and Nantasket Roads are separated by Long Island. The outer harbor is fed by several rivers, including the Neponset River, the Weymouth Fore River, the Weymouth Back River and the Weir River.
Dredged deep water channels stretch from President Roads to the inner harbor, and from Nantasket Roads to the Weymouth Fore River. Some commercial port facilities are located in the Fore River area, an area which has a history of shipbuilding including the notable Fore River Shipyard.

Harbor islands

Boston Harbor contains a considerable number of islands, most of which are part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. The following islands exist within the harbor:

Two former islands, Castle Island and Deer Island, still exist in a recognisable form. Castle Island was joined to the mainland by land reclamation, whilst Deer Island ceased to be an island when the channel which formerly separated it from the mainland was filled in by a hurricane in 1938.
Two other former islands, Apple Island and Governors Island, have been subsumed into land reclamation for Logan International Airport.

Traffic

In 2006, the port handled over 14 million metric tons of cargo, including 201,000 container TEUs. Other major forms of cargo processed at the port include petroleum, liquefied natural gas (LNG), automobiles, cement, gypsum, and salt. There were about 208,000 cruise ship passengers and 81 cruise ship visits that year.
   In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, there have been concerns about the security of LNG shipments within Boston Harbor, and increased fear of terrorism. Because of the location of the LNG terminal in the Mystic River, tankers traveling to and from the facility are forced to pass directly offshore of downtown Boston. During their voyage through the harbor, they're protected by a security zone that extends in front of the vessel, behind it, and more than half a mile on either side. This zone is enforced by escort vessels provided by the Coast Guard and State Police. The Tobin Bridge is closed as the escort passes under it, and boating is forbidden within the security zone. As of 2005, there have been proposals to construct an offshore LNG facility in Massachusetts Bay.
   The MBTA operates commuter boats between Long Wharf and Rowes Wharf on the downtown Boston waterfront to Hingham, Hull, Quincy, and Logan Airport as well as inner harbor ferries between downtown Boston, Charlestown, and South Boston. Other fast passenger ferries operate to Provincetown and Salem. Several companies operate cruise boats on the harbor, whilst water taxis operate from various points on the downtown Boston waterfront, Logan Airport, Charlestown, East Boston, and South Boston. Ferries are also provided for travel amongst the harbor islands.
   There are occasionally marine accidents as with a commuter ferry Massachusetts going from Boston's Rowes Wharf to Hull in June 2006.

Port facilities

Ground transportation

The Port of Boston has access to I-90, I-93, I-95, and US 1. A CSX rail yard in the Boston neighborhood of Brighton serves the port. On-dock rail connections exist but are not currently used (as of 2007). There is public transit access via the MBTA Silver line routes SL2 and SL3.

Massport facilities

The public facilities, operated by the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), are located in the neighborhoods of Charlestown, East Boston, and South Boston. Charlestown contains facilities for bulk cargo as well as for automobile shipping and processing while East Boston contains a shipyard and marina. The majority of Massport's seaport facilities are in South Boston, which contains facilities for bulk cargo, containers, seafood, and cruise ship passengers.

Black Falcon Cruise Terminal (South Boston)

Boston Fish Pier (South Boston) - The oldest continuously operated fish pier in the United States, this facility houses companies dedicated to the processing and shipment of seafood.

Conley Terminal (South Boston) - Conley Terminal serves as the container facility for the Port of Boston. Started as the Castle Island Terminal by Sea-Land Corporation, Massport consolidated all container operations at Conley and dredged the entrance channel to a depth of in the mid-1990s. Today, the facility is capable of handling Panamax and post-Panamax container ships.

Moran Autoport (Charlestown) - Now dedicated exclusively to the processing and shipping of automobiles, Moran once served as a common-use container facility.

Non-Massport facilities

Aside from a US Coast Guard facility, the Port of Boston has facilities dedicated to bulk cargo, petroleum, and LNG shipment and storage. These are primarily located on the Mystic River, notably along the city of Everett waterfront as well as the Chelsea River area of East Boston. The Chelsea River depots also contain facilities handling jet fuel for Logan International Airport. The Deer Island Waste Water Treatment Plant, whose 150 foot tall egg-shaped sludge digesters are major landmarks, ships treated sludge across the harbor by barge for further processing into fertilizer.
The naval frigate USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides") is berthed at the former Charlestown Navy Yard, now part of the Boston National Historical Park. The park is also home to the USS Cassin Young a World War II museum ship. A World War II era dry dock in the park was used for Constitution's 1992 overhaul. Two other WW II era drydocks in the harbor are still operational (as of 2007), including Dry Dock Number 3 — the largest dry dock on the U.S. East Coast.

History

Before the colonization of the Americas, the area served as a trading post for Native Americans in the region. After the establishment of the Boston settlement by John Winthrop in 1630 and the creation of a local shipbuilding industry, the port served the rapidly expanding American colonies. During that time, trade involved finished goods from England in exchange for lumber, fully constructed vessels, rum, and salted fish.
   With the rapid growth of the Mid-Atlantic colonies in the 1750s, the ports of New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania began to surpass Boston for inter-colony trade. In response, Bostonian merchants established trade with foreign nations besides Great Britain. This trade led to a huge increase in wealth amongst Bostonian merchants. However, the British government's imposition of regulations restricting trade to Great Britain, combined with newly enacted taxes on the colonists, caused Bostonian merchants to join the more radical elements in American society. After the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament passed the Boston Port Act which shut down the port until the East India Company was compensated for the damaged tea. These actions led to the American Revolutionary War.
   Though economically devastated by the Revolutionary War, the Port of Boston was again prospering with trade with various foreign ports such as Shanghai. The port's fortunes were further augmented with a navy base at Charlestown. By the mid-1800s, the shipbuilding industry reached its peak as displayed by the clipper ships developed by Donald McKay. The port also saw many land reclamation projects and the construction of new piers.
   With the start of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, activity in the port turned towards trade between the states. Starting in the mid-1800s, the Port of Boston was eclipsed yet again by other eastern seaboard ports such New York City as local merchant companies were bought out by New York businessmen. In 1956, control of the port was handed to the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), which began the process of modernizing the port. During the 1980s and 1990s, a project dedicated to the cleanup of Boston Harbor was overseen by the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA).
   In 1966, Sea-Land introduced containerized shipping and later established one of the first container ports on Castle Island, where Conley Terminal now stands. To meet the growing demand for container shipping, Massport constructed a common-use container port on what is now Moran Terminal. However, the port faced a setback with the closure of the Charlestown Navy Yard in 1974.
   In the mid-1990s, the port went through another round of modernization. Container shipping operations were consolidated at Conley Terminal while Moran Terminal was dedicated to automobile shipping. A project of dredging the harbor commenced in 1997. Through the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (Big Dig), ground access to the South Boston facilities were improved with the extension of I-90 and the construction of the Ted Williams Tunnel linking South Boston with Logan International Airport. The port has also seen a burgeoning cruise industry as well as expanding commercial and residential developments on the Boston waterfront.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Boston Harbor'.

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