Ports and terminals represent one of the most important links in the world of maritime transport, both economically and in service. Most importantly, they ensure the safety of ships, enable the transition of any goods or passengers and other port services. As such, they must satisfy certain parameters. This paper will analyze and deal with the conditions that must be satisfied for the successful design of ports and terminals, starting with the theory of construction of the port itself to the planning of it. The aim of this paper is to present the planning stages of the port and terminal project, taking into account all the physical properties of the location as its landscape, geographical area, natural shelter to climatic conditions, temperature, wind, precipitation, waves and tides. These are all factors that must be analyzed and planned in advance for the successful design of the port itself, in order to meet the imagined functionality and services it will provide in the maritime economy. With the increasement of maritime trading, shipowners are building bigger ships in order to increase their trading capacities, and with the expansion of cruise trips, very big cruise ships have been built. For those reasons many ports are expanding and upgrading their terminals. With overwhelming global warming, in many parts of the world we have weather extremes and changing of usual climate conditions for some area. All these reasons represent great challenges in projecting and constructing ports in the future.