Ok. My research has turned up some clarification. According to the encyclopedia Wikipedia, a "Port" can be surmised as follows:
"...A port is a facility for receiving ships and transferring cargo to and from them. They are usually situated at the edge of an ocean, sea, river, or lake. Ports often have cargo-handling equipment such as cranes and forklifts for use in loading/unloading of ships, which may be provided by private interests or public bodies. Often, canneries or other processing facilities will be located very close by.
The term 'port' is used for ports that handle ocean-going vessels, and river port is used for facilities that handle river traffic. Sometimes a port on a lake or river also has access to the ocean, and is then referred to as an inland port. A fishing port is a type of port or harbor facility particularly suitable for landing and distributing fish. A dry port is a term sometimes used to describe a yard used to place containers or conventional bulk cargo, usually connected to a seaport by rail or road.
The presence of deep water in channels or berths, the provision of protection from the wind, waves and storm surges and access to intermodal transportation such as trains or trucks are critical to the functioning of seaports and river ports.
Cargo containers allow for efficient transport and distribution as each product, box and bulk cargo do not need to be loaded individually at each transportation point, making the loading and unloading process more efficient. Cargo can be sealed at point of origin, transported via intermodal transport, before being stacked and loaded on container ships. These are then ultimately opened at final point of resale or destination. This is a vital part of modern retailing Just in Time Delivery strategies..."
The following were then listed as examples:
Port of Hong Kong
Port of Houston
Port of Incheon
Port of Kaohsiung
Port Klang
Port of Long Beach
Port of Los Angeles
Port of Mumbai
Port of New York/New Jersey
Port of Rotterdam
Port of Seattle
Port of Shanghai
Port of Shenzhen
Port of Singapore
Port of South Louisiana
Port of Vancouver
Port of Vigo
Link Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port
Notice the second Port used as an example. After a time consuming analysis on said list above, I was able to determine a common attribute to all of them. Namely: they all involved water. In all cases, either a river or an ocean butted up against the port. This confirms what I have suspected all along and re-confirms what I learned in school: Ports involve some kinda' water. It was interesting that the term "dry port" was indeed ackowledge as a use of the word Port. But such a dry port was qualified like this:
"...A dry port is a term sometimes used to describe a yard used to place containers or conventional bulk cargo, usually connected to a seaport by rail or road..."
It's a Yard. Thus, it seems more appropriate that the correct terminology should therefore be "The Yard of Dallas", instead of the phrase "Port".
This post has been edited by 2112: Monday, March 13, 2006 at 11:45 AM
...so this neutron walks into a bar and asks "how much for a beer?" Bartender says: "for YOU.....no charge."