Seaports are areas where there are facilities for berthing or
anchoring ships and where there is the equipment for the
transfer of goods from ship to shore or ship to ship. To use
more modern jargon, it is a ship/shore interface or a maritime
intermodal interface. From an historical point of view the
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customs facility is important because without it no international commercial intercourse was legally possible. In many
older ports the most imposing piece of architecture on the waterfront is the Custom House.
The major reference books on ports list between 3,500 to
9,000 ports in the world. The reason why the figure varies is
that the meaning and definition of a port can vary. At one end
of the scale a large estuarial port may contain many terminals
which may be listed as separate ports. At the other end of the
scale not every place where a small vessel anchors to offload
cargo may be listed as a port.