ABSTRACT
Gateway functions are concerned with exchange between the gateway settlement’s home region or hinterland and external places which may be contiguous in a geographical sense or at considerable distance and possibly separated by maritime space (Bird, 1980, 1983). Located at the interface between land and maritime transport, the seaport is a clear and special case of the gateway, providing as it does the means by which a hinterland is connected to overseas trading areas-the foreland.
