of a number of grain ships sinking within the harbour during a violent storm. Nero gave the harbour the name of "Portus Augusti". A canal, later called the Fossa Traiana (today's Fiumicino canal), was built to connect the Harbour of Claudius with the Tiber, allowing barges to travel up towards Rome with cargo transferred from seafaring cargo ships.

It was probably Claudius who constructed the new direct road from Rome to Portus, the Via Portuensis,