FRANCE: NANTES.
41
cotton, 385; wool, 2G4; rice, 482; hides, 479; vegetable oil, 8G0; oil
cake, 1,512.
As there are no American business houses in Marseille, it may be
said that Americans make no use whatever of these warehouses,
although owing to the great volume of American commerce they are
nevertheless of considerable importance to American trade interests.
-No distinctions whatever are made by the company in the treatment
of clients.
The fact that the bills for storage are made out every two weeks,
and for periods of one-half month, probably results from the. experience
of the company that the average length of time during which
goods remain in bond is two weeks.
LANDING FACILITIES.
^ The company controls permanent docks and piers, built of stone.
Ships anchor alongside and goods are discharged promptly and satisfactorily,
largely by hand labor. There are also numerous cranes
and American unloading devices in case of full cargoes of grain and
oil seeds. A public street separates the bonded warehouses from the
docks, and goods are transported across the intervening space upon
trucks and drays. The cost of these services may be estimated from
the table of charges to be found in the printed tariff. It is the
experience of individual business firms that the company removes
goods from ship to warehouse for less than the cost to an ordinary
individual for performing the same services.
CUSTOMS SUPERVISION.
The custom-house officers are in close touch with every transaction
°f the Compagnie des Docks. The inspectors and appraisers have
their offices in the dock company’s administration building, and
their guards are posted at every point of ingress and egress. When
goods are put into storage, a custom-house guard and an employee of
the company together close the storage chamber, and this chamber
ls never opened and the goods are never removed except in the
Presence and by the authority of the guard.
A vast project in embryo is receiving favorable consideration in
Marseille, the object of which is to create a free zone, thus extending
the bonded warehouse idea. It is proposed to make this free zone
neutral territory, sufficiently large to permit of the erection of mann
1 act uring establishments where imported merchandise may be received,
manufactured, or changed in form, and reexported without
being subject to any formality or costs of any description.
Robert P. Skinner, (Consul-General.
Marseille, France, June 27, 7004.
NANTES.
(From United States Consul Ridgely, Nantes, France.)
The area of the warehouses at Nantes is 4G,000 square meters
(55,015 square yards). The original cost was about $675,000.
The warehouses are owned by the chamber of commerce and con-
