The port of Nagapattinam is in the Bay of Bengal in the mouth of river Kuduvayyar. Nagapattinam was the most important port of the Chola empire. All the eastern naval expeditions of Rajendra Chola I (1012–44 CE) were through the port. The port was widely used by the Dutch, Portuguese and British as one of the major ports of the Coramandel Coast for trading purposes. Most of the principal exports to Sri Lanka from the port during the British period were rice, piece goods, livestock, cigars, tobacco and hides. The trade of Nagapattinam was mostly with Sri Lanka, Straits Settlements, Burma and to a small extent to the United Kingdom and Spain. The port also served passenger traffic to Singapore, but this was susepended due to a fire accident. The modern day port has a commercial port complex and a dockyard that are protected by a river mouth sand bar facing the port. The port handles only a limited amount of edible oil imports. The Nagapttinam lighthouse is the first conventional lighthouse tower, built inside the port premises by the British in 1869. The port and the lighthouse are maintained by the Tamil Nadu Maritime Board under the Government of India.