From the publisher's website:

Manage a harbor, build ships and construct buildings in your bid to become the merchant with the largest fortune and the most power in Le Havre. Take control of resources, process them, sell them, and turn them into food to feed your hungry workers. Construct or buy up buildings or ships to prove that you are the master of Le Havre! Le Havre is an economic construction strategy game designed by Uwe Rosenberg, the designer of other hit board games such as Agricola and Ora & Labora. In Le Havre, a player’s turn consists of two parts: First, distribute newly supplied goods onto the offer spaces; then take an action. As an action, players may choose either to take all goods of one type from an offer space or to use one of the available buildings. Building actions allow players to upgrade goods, sell them or use them to build their own buildings and ships. Buildings are both an investment opportunity and a revenue stream, as players must pay an entry fee to use buildings that they do not own. Ships, on the other hand, are primarily used to provide the food that is needed to feed the workers.