Moving Cargo
Trade shapes ports
The type of cargoes it handles fundamentally shapes the port.
They determine what the people who work there do, from carrying
frozen carcasses of meat to supervising the unloading of crude oil.
Its trades determine what facilities the port has to provide, from
warehouses to tank farms. They also determine what transport links
the port has, from canals to pipelines. 
 Aerial view of Southampton`s Outer and Inner
docks |
Although trade has changed enormously over the last half
century, the effect of a port`s traditional trade is still often
apparent. Some traces are often too big to obliterate, like canals.
Other facilities have been preserved as a reminder of the port`s
past, like a coal hoist at Goole or old warehouses at Liverpool and
London. Where there has been extensive redevelopment for housing or
office accommodation, as in London or Manchester, the docks have
become landscape features. Even towns and cities which are no
longer ports retain features of their former trades.
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