Ports Map

Choose a port location before interpreting traffic

The main button opens the ports layer in the ship explorer. The country tables below offer a shorter path to individual US and Canadian reference locations: selecting a name opens its port card and centers the map on that catalogue point. Check the name, country label and coordinates together. A port can include several terminals, channels and anchorages; one marker cannot describe the boundary of that whole system.

The port-profile directory has a different purpose. It links selected long-form profiles with reference codes and cargo context. This map guide links the broader location catalogue, including Canadian points that do not have individual profiles in that directory. Use the map for geographic orientation and the profiles for background reading. The two collections are curated separately, so their totals should not be expected to match.

United States: nearby ports and multi-terminal systems

Los Angeles and Long Beach appear as separate points in the catalogue. At a broad zoom level their markers can be close together, so inspect the selected name before attributing a vessel report or a statistic to either port. Our Los Angeles port traffic guide explains how the port's published container statistics differ from the available ship observations on a map. A visible marker count is not a monthly cargo figure.

New York/New Jersey is a single reference name here, though the port system includes multiple facilities. The map point does not locate every container terminal, gate or berth. For detailed US coastal geography, NOAA's United States Coast Pilot provides separate regional publications and updates. Choose the applicable area and edition at NOAA; PocketWorld does not import those publications or treat a reference coordinate as an official terminal map.

The US table follows the catalogue's country label and includes Guam alongside continental locations, Alaska and Hawaii. Its number counts entries in this collection, not all US ports, port authorities or maritime facilities. A location's absence means this catalogue has no point for it. It does not establish that the port closed or that the area lacks vessel traffic.

Canada: a location, an authority and a facility are different things

The Canadian table includes Pacific, Atlantic and inland reference points. It is a selected set, not the full national port system. Transport Canada's list of Canada Port Authorities organizes authorities by province and links their own sites. That is a useful next step when you need the responsible organization or its current port information. The authority list is not the source of the coordinates in this map.

Transport Canada also publishes a separate list of ports and facilities it owns, organized into remote, local or regional, and public categories. This illustrates why a count of catalogue markers cannot be compared directly with a count of authorities or facilities. Decide which kind of place your question concerns before comparing lists, and keep the source's scope with any number you quote.

Names need particular care. The official authority list distinguishes Saint John in New Brunswick from St. John's in Newfoundland and Labrador. The table's Saint John point has reference coordinates for the New Brunswick location. Do not select a similarly spelled name as a substitute for an unlisted location. For the inland points, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway guide supplies separate waterway context without duplicating the shared system into competing country pages.

Read vessel reports as observations, not port operations

A port card can open a panel of available nearby vessel reports. The port location itself is static reference information, while a vessel position has an observation time and source. A recent report near a harbour does not, by itself, establish a berth assignment, completed port call or place in an arrival queue. Missing names, destinations or speed values remain missing rather than measured zeroes.

Use the US AIS identity guide or Canadian AIS coverage guide to understand the reports and their gaps. If a photo or background extract is available in a card, treat it as optional context; it does not verify current port activity. The marker's large or medium label is a catalogue category, not a live measurement of capacity, cargo handled or congestion.

A repeatable way to compare places

Record the chosen name, country and reference coordinates, then retain the individual times and sources of any vessel reports you inspect. Keep the same geographic area when comparing two visits. Use a port authority's own terminal and statistics resources for a question about its facilities or reporting period. Return to the ship explorer to change the data layer; adding ships to the view does not change the meaning of the port-reference count.