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However, vessel statistics show that for 1923 there were 95 ships 
berthing at the free port, increasing in 1924 to 200 vessels, and in 
1927 there were 209 using the free port. 
Consul General John Ball Osborne, in his report on the free port 
of Stockholm, states that the Swedish merchant marine has shown 
a steady growth during the last few years, but that it can not be said 
that the opening of the Stockholm free port has exercised any direct 
influence in this direction. Statistics, however, reveal that the num- 
ber of vessels using the free port in 1921 were 276, with 105,124 
tons, as compared with 508, with 223,812 tons, in 1923. In 1926 
there were 878 vessels, with 349,659 tons, while in 1927 there were 
983, with 448,658 tons. 
It is stated by Consul H. C. Von Struve, in his report on the free port 
of Gothenburg, that although there has been a considerable expansion 
of the Swedish merchant marine during the last few years, it has not 
been due to the free port, but to other causes. Statistics accom- 
Panying the report, giving the total number of vessels and the tonnage 
(net registered) which entered and cleared the free port, show that 
during the year 1923 there were 2,155 vessels of 1,646,746 tons, while 
In 1925 there were 2,823 vessels of 2,147,555 tons, as against 3,632 
Tessels of 2,565,445 tons in 1927. 
Consul General G. Bie Ravndal states, in his report on the free port 
of Hamburg, that the existence of the free harbor has not directly 
assisted in the development of Germany’s merchant marine, though 
its influence in increasing shipping has indirectly had an enormous 
effect in this direction. 
Consul Leslie E. Reed, in reporting on the free port of Bremen, 
holds the view that the enormous business of the port is probably due 
in a large degree to the freedom of Bremen from all customs tariffs 
before 1884 and the prompt establishment of a free port upon the 
entry of Bremen in the Customs Union in 1888. He further states 
that the Bremen steamship companies, particularly the North German 
Loyd, have not only benefited from the free port, but it has been 
WMstrumental in the establishment of these companies and influential 
‘tt their operation. 
According to Consul Reed’s report, the influence of the free port of 
Emden on the development of its merchant marine is not so pro- 
Dounced as in the case of Bremen. This, he states, is due to the 
general tendency of the centralization of large steamship organiza- 
tions in important cities such as Hamburg and Bremen. 
In the reports received on the free ports of Flensburg, Kiel, and 
Cuxhaven, it is stated that the free harbors have had no important 
fluence on the development of the merchant marine. 
Vice Consul Augustus Ostertag states that the free port of Bremer- 
haven has had a marked influence on the development of the mer-