PORT ECONOMICS
31,692,000 tons, which is 10 per cent in excess of the
pre-war record of 1913, Hamburg monopolized more than
half the shipping movement at all German ports, viz.,
61,248,000 tons. This is a remarkable achievement and a
splendid testimony to the pertinacity and determination
of the burghers.

The administration of the port is in the hands of the
municipality. Hamburg was originally an independent
mercantile city-state with a Senate and House of Burghers,
dating back to the fourteenth century, and this indepen-
dence, or quasi-independence, of the Federal (Prussian)
Government has been maintained ever since. The city, as
a Free State, continues to govern its own local affairs.
The harbour area (including the basins) is the property
of the city and is controlled by the Council, who have
constructed the quays and transit sheds and provided
cranes and railway sidings for the handling of goods. The
various wharves, however (except certain retained for
public use), are leased to shipping lines for long periods.

The tidal conditions of the port do not necessitate the
use of enclosed docks. Spring tides rise 8 to 10 ft. ;
neaps 6 to 7 ft. It is possible, therefore, to accommodate
shipping in open basins or at riverside quays.

There were several very large floating docks at the port,
but the most notable were handed over, at the conclusion
of hostilities, to the British Admiralty.

ROTTERDAM

+ Rotterdam provides a striking contrast to Hamburg.
It is not an entrepot port: it is a great transhipment port
at which goods are transferred from ocean going vessels
to lighter and river craft (some of not inconsiderable
tonnage)! for transmission by the channels of the Rhine,
and by inland waterway, to the great manufacturing
district of Westphalia and the inland cities and towns of
Germany, Holland and Belgium. This characteristic

1 Some of the Rhine barges are of 3,500 tons capacity.

120