Full text: Foreign trade zones (or free ports)

FOREIGN TRADE ZONES 
ages it in the name of that city; in Emden the German National 
Railway is the proprietor of and manages the railway in its own name. 
Wherever the harbor railway is an independent undertaking, it is the 
cause of financial anxiety to the seaport town. 
Since the docks ‘are provided with entirely modern equipment, 
cranes, gangways, lifting gear, etc., their manning requires trained 
gangs, their upkeep a special expenditure, and payment therefor a 
special cash department. Thus the conception of the dock adminis- 
tration as being an office independent of harbor construction arises, 
viz, a works and traffic administration separate from the construc- 
tion administration. It is natural that such an administration is 
only for the general traffic. Special depots, as, for instance, for tim- 
ber, ore, and coal, and industrial depots, are often best utilized by 
being leased. 
The dock administration limits itself to one part of the port traffic; 
the shore work of transshipment. The latter comprises the shifting 
of goods in the quay sheds and the work of the lifting gear. The 
ships’ -work therefore, in discharging and loading, does not come 
under the dock administration, but is the work of the stevedores. 
The improvement of the lifting gear, such as hydraulic moving of 
grain cranes, has brought about the fact that a division between ship 
and shore work is often no longer possible, so that in such cases the 
ships’ work is also undertaken by the dock administration. 
By engaging dock laborers for the work of transshipment, the dock 
administration associates itself with the other harbor managements in 
labor questions. The administration is an employer and, as it has 
no regular workers such as municipal employees, it is obliged to 
engage its own dock laborers. As a rule, it is, therefore, a member 
of the employers’ union (Hafenbetriebeverein). The work for mixed 
goods and piece goods is for the most part manual work; machinery 
for conveyance on a small scale and for stapling goods is only just 
being developed. The upkeep of the expensive and sometimes very 
delicate lifting gear requires special skilled labor and special workshops. 
This technical department needs the closest cooperation with the 
construction works, so that daily experiences can be utilized and 
advantageously employed for new undertakings. A fusion with the 
construction works is, however, not to be recommended. 
The difficulty of making a profit from the dock administration has 
always been a source of anxiety, and since the war the situation has 
become more acute, as the competition of the foreign harbors of 
Antwerp and Rotterdam, as well as the struggle of the German ship- 
ping companies for their position in the world, tend to keep the dock 
dues low. Although the dock administration has never been an 
important source of income to Bremen, the question of a subsidy for 
it is now receiving consideration. It is therefore all the more necessary 
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