Portland is an old seacoast town. It is a funky city filled with galleries, one-of-a-kind boutiques and shops, and incredible restaurants serving everything from traditional New England clam chowder to nouveau cuisine. Portland is the banking capital of northern New England, home to major international law firms, import/export companies, and modern high-rise office buildings.
Portland has one of the finest and busiest dredged deep-water harbors on the Atlantic Coast, providing excellent berthing for vessels of all sizes. Portland is one of the few working waterfronts left in the United States and since 1998, has become the largest seaport in New England in terms of cargo tonnage, the second largest fishing port in New England, and the 20th largest fishing port in the U.S. Portland is also the second largest oil port on the East Coast and the largest foreign inbound transit tonnage port in the United States! Portland also has the largest bascule type bridge in North American with a 196 foot horizontal span than can handle the widest vessels at the upriver terminals.
Portland is Maine's largest city with 66,000 full time residents; however it swells to 2 million if one includes annual visitors and part-time residents. Visitors come by car, train, airplane, and boat. Each year, Portland harbor hosts an average of over 206,000 international passengers; approximately 41,000 passengers on 40 cruise ships and an additional 165,000 passengers on the Scotia Prince.
At every turn, Portland is an experience for everyone.