The Port of Toamasina is the largest port in Madagascar and one of the most important in the western Indian Ocean, handling the great majority of the country's containerised imports and exports. The working port itself is not accessible to visitors, but the activity along the waterfront — container ships anchored in the roads, tugboats manoeuvring in the harbour, the constant flow of trucks through the port gates — gives a clear sense of what drives the city economically.
The area around the port entrance, at the northern end of Boulevard Joffre, is worth a short walk. Small fishing boats land their catches on the adjacent beach in the early morning, and the atmosphere is lively and photogenic. The port was expanded significantly in the 2010s with Chinese investment, and a second container terminal has been under various stages of development. story: "The name Tamatave, by which the city was long known in French, is a corruption of 'Tom's grave' — a reference to an English trader named Tom who was buried here in the early nineteenth century. The Malagasy name Toamasina, meaning 'salty' or 'like salt', is said to date from King Radama I's first taste of seawater on this shore."