Commercial port
Topic: International Trade: Patterns, Ports and the WTO · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 8 "International Trade"
Meaning
A commercial port handles general cargo, meaning packaged products and manufactured goods, and also passenger traffic. NCERT classifies it by the cargo it handles. It does not specialise in loose bulk cargo such as ore or oil. Commercial ports matter because most finished goods that people buy pass through them.
Example
Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT), near Mumbai in Maharashtra, and Mundra, on the Gulf of Kachchh in Gujarat, are commercial ports. NCERT's world example is Leningrad (now St Petersburg) in Russia.
Don't confuse with
- Industrial port: handles bulk cargo such as grain, ore, oil and chemicals using conveyors, silos and oil terminals. A commercial port handles general cargo and passengers.
- Comprehensive port: handles both bulk and general cargo in large volumes.
Related concepts
- Industrial port
- Comprehensive port
- Inland port
- Out port
- Oil port
- Port of call
- Packet station
- Entrepot port
- Naval port
- Rotterdam