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

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part 1. General analysis

Collection:: Economics Books

4 FOREIGN TRADE ZONES Consul R. A. Boernstein reports that the free port of Malmo can hardly be said to have exercised any notable influence on the develop- ment of foreign trade. He states that: It is a matter of common knowledge that the free port of Malmo, which was axpected to give this city a commercial development eventually rivaling that of Copenhagen, has thus far proved a great disappointment. This is a comparatively new free port, however, and it is too soon to Teach conclusions as to its value as & permanent institution. Consul General Jobn Ball Osborne expresses somewhat similar siews with reference to Stockholm. He states that: {t can hardly be said that the free port has as yet exercised any great influence on the development of Sweden's foreign trade. The favorable development of the trade during recent years would undoubtedly have taken place even if there nad been no free port. It appears that the free port up to now has only offered rompetition to the other harbors in Stockholm. The free port at Danzig has apparently not exercised any important influence upon commerce. ’ Consul H. C. von Struve states that while the establishment of the free port at Gothenburg has proven of considerable advantage, it can hardly be said to have had a great deal of influence on the development of foreign trade. Consul General G. Bie Ravndal, in reporting on the influence the free port of Hamburg has had on the development of foreign trade, holds the view that the part played by Hamburg’s free harbor in properly handling and encouraging its enormous OVerseas trade can not be overestimated. The following is an extract from his report: Although Hamburg thus is blessed by its location at the terminus of the Elbe, one of the world’s most important highways of commerce, and just off the Kiel Canal, connecting the North and Baltic Seas, where trade routes from all quarters of the globe converge, the part played by Hamburg’s free harbor in properly handling and encouraging its enormous overseas trade can not be overestimated. The free harbor, with its extensive storage accommodations, its low warehousing costs and handling charges, its facilities for repacking, refinishing, or actually manufacturing in the free port, constitutes the very center of Hamburg's eom- mercial life, and Hamburg’s position as the leading port of northern Europe is ‘nextricably bound up with the free port. It is impossible to disassociate Ham- burg from the free port, even in one’s mind, as historically and commercially shey are one. Should the free port be abolished—an unthinkable step—Hamburg would no longer be able to maintain its position as a world factor in the various commodity markets, such as rice, jute, crude rubber, cocoa beans, hides and skins, and so forth. The port doubtless would continue to be used, but merely as a port of entry for goods being shipped into Germany. The paramount importance of the free port is indicated by the jealousy with which the free port privileges were guarded when Hamburg became a part of the German Empire.

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