A berth is a designated location in a port or harbour used for mooring vessels when they are not at sea. Berths provide a vertical front which allows safe and secure mooring that can then facilitate the unloading or loading of cargo or people from vessels.
Berth is the term used in ports and harbors for a designated location where a vessel may be moored, usually for the purposes of loading and unloading. Berths are designated by the management of a facility (e.g., port authority, harbor master). Vessels are assigned to berths by these authorities.
Most berths are alongside a quay or a jetty (large ports) or a floating dock (small harbors and marinas). Berths are either general or specific to the types of vessel that use them. The size of the berths varies from 5–10 m (16–33 ft) for a small boat in a marina to over 400 m (1,300 ft) for the largest tankers. The general rule of thumb is berth lengths should be roughly 10% longer than the maximum
The following is a list of berth types based on the method of construction:
The following is a list of berth types based on the method of geometry:
The following is a list of berth types based on cargo of the ships calling: