Port Hawkesbury

Coordinates: 45°36′55″N 61°21′51″W / 45.61528°N 61.36417°W / 45.61528; -61.36417 (Port Hawkesbury Nova Scotia)

Port Hawkesbury (Scottish Gaelic: Baile a' Chlamhain) is a town located on the southwestern end of Cape Breton Island, on the north shore of the Strait of Canso, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

The town was originally named Ship Harbour (after the harbour upon which it is located) and is largely a service centre for western Cape Breton Island with many of its residents working in large industries in an industrial park located in the adjacent community of Point Tupper, Richmond County. The town's schools are Tamarac Education Centre (Grades primary-8), SAERC (Grades 9-12) and the Strait Area Campus of the Nova Scotia Community College.

The community is named after Admiral Sir Edward Hawke.

The Port

The Port of Port Hawkesbury is the second largest by tonnage annually in Canada, second only to Vancouver, British Columbia due to large volumes of crushed rock and gravel shipments and oil trans-shipments. The Port handled 31.6 million metric tonnes in 2006, 21.6 million tonnes of crude petroleum. The port is served by tugs of Svitzer Towing such as the tug Point Chebucto. Historically it was a stop for American coastal steam ships.