Port

Port is the left-hand side of a vessel looking forward toward the bow, the fixed opposite of starboard; it carries a red sidelight under COLREGs Rule 21. The term replaced the older “larboard” to avoid confusion with starboard in spoken orders. “Port” also means a harbor: a sheltered place with berths, quays, and cargo-handling for ships to load, discharge, and lie up, usually with a controlling port authority and pilotage. A vessel “in port” lies alongside or at anchor within harbor limits. The two senses are unrelated despite the shared word.