SOME TYPICAL PORTS 123
The tidal range at Antwerp is as much as 16 ft. at spring
tides, which renders the docking of ships desirable, if not
essential.

Like Rotterdam, the port is administered by a Communal
Council financed in part by the Government. The main-
tenance of the Scheldt is the joint responsibility of the
Belgian and Dutch Governments. The docks are municipal
property. The riverside quays and the barge docks were
built by the State, but are administered by the city under
a special agreement.

NEW YORK

Passing over to the other side of the Atlantic, we
naturally select as an example of American practice the
great port of New York, rivalling and even exceeding
London in the amount and value of its trade, and easily
the first port in the whole of the American continent.
Including all the localities within the area of jurisdiction
of the Port of New York Authority, the water-borne com-
merce for the year 1923 totalled 127,557,856 tons, of which,
however, it should be noted that local harbour traffic
accounted for 50 per cent, the other 50 per cent comprising
foreign, coastwise and internal traffic.t

The principal commodities handled in and out of the
port in unit containers, are flour, provision and canned
goods, iron and steel castings, sugar, ingots, acids, chemicals
and paper. There are two substances handled in bulk in
large volume, viz., oil and grain. The former reaches the
port by pipe line from the Ohio Valley and by tankers from
southern and western oil ports. Grain arrives from the
North Western States and Canada by rail and also in
barge via the New York Barge Canal.

It has been explained in Chapter VII that the service
of the Port of New York is rendered difficult by the physical
conditions of the locality. The business centre is on the

1 Internal traffic is contributed chiefly by the New York State
Barge Canal System and the Hudson River.