Foreign trade zones (or free ports)

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1801857903

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-199077

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Foreign trade zones (or free ports)

Place of publication:: Washington

Publisher:: United States Government Printing Off.

Year of publication:: 1929

Scope:: IX, 322 S; Ill., graph. Darst

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part 1. General analysis

Collection:: Economics Books

70 FOREIGN TRADE ZONES United States from a foreign port or place until entry, preliminary or formal, has been made. At the time of making entry of his vessel at the customhouse, the master makes application for a permit to unload. No merchandise, baggage, or passengers from a foreign port, and no bonded merchandise or baggage transported from one port to another are permitted to be unloaded on Sunday, a holidsy, or at night except under special license granted by the comptroller. While longshoremen are entitled to time and a half for all work after hours and on Sundays and holidays, the additional cost thereby involved is usually fully justified by the reduction in time of the vessel in port. As a rule, however, due to the customs restrictions on unloading after hours and on Sundays and holidays, the dis- charging of cargo vessels is not undertaken at such times. There are many exceptions, of course, with respect to vessels of regular lines which have filed the necessary bonds. Customs officials keep close surveillance over the cargo from the time the boat is docked until the cargo has been delivered to consignee, placed in bonded warehouse, or approved for immediate transporte- tion in bond. No cargo may be discharged except in the presence of customs officials. Under the conditions prevailing, it frequently hap- pens that from 12 to 36 hours elapse from the time the ship arrives until discharge of import cargo actually commences. The necessity of inspecting cargo, both dutiable and free, before permitting its removal from the pier, or of sending it by bonded drays to customs warehouses or appraiser's store, contributes somewhat to the delay in unloading import cargo. This is especially true where the sheds do not have sufficient capacity to permit these operations to be carried on without blocking other traffic. At the narrow piers which have characterized the older developments in New York Harbor, and which are still used by many of the trans-Atlantic lines, congestion is un- avoidable. This congestion is chiefly attributable to the physical lay- out and inadequate capacity, but at that port as well as elsewhere the customs procedure contributes to the delay. Conditions differ so greatly at the various ports of the United States and at various times in the same port that it is impracticable to make a definite statement as to the saving of time which the elimi- nation of customs formalities would accomplish. For a cargo vessel of 3,000 to 5,000 net tons, it is believed that this saving insome cases might amount to as much as 48 hours, assuming that the vessel discharged all of her cargo in the free port. The saving in money obviously would vary with the type, size, and value of the ship, and the nature and amount of her cargo. Figures derived from records of the Ship- ping Board show that, including interest, depreciation and insurance, the cost of time in port, exclusive of port charges, stevedoring, and other expenses chargeable to the cargo, ranges from $279 to $559 per

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