Which one of the following is a land- locked harbour?

A land-locked harbour is a port surrounded by land or protected by natural barriers like hills, making it not directly open to the sea's impact. Visakhapatnam is widely recognized as India's premier land-locked and natural deep-water harbour, protected by the 'Dolphin's Nose' hill range which shields it from the direct force of the Bay of Bengal. While some sources suggest Haldia is land-locked due to its riverine location 126 miles inland on the Hooghly River, standard geographical classifications for this specific question typically identify Visakhapatnam as the land-locked harbour because of its unique topography. In contrast, Mumbai is a natural deep-water harbour, and Ennore is an artificial/natural port developed to relieve pressure from Chennai. Haldia is primarily classified as a riverine port. Therefore, Visakhapatnam is the most accurate answer in the context of Indian geography examinations.

Sources

1. [1] INDIA PEOPLE AND ECONOMY, TEXTBOOK IN GEOGRAPHY FOR CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 8: International Trade > Can you find out the reasons for the variations in the location of ports along the two coasts? > p. 92
2. [2] Geography of India ,Majid Husain, (McGrawHill 9th ed.) > Chapter 12: Transport, Communications and Trade > Ports > p. 19