FREE PORT OF BILBAO 215
to support the construction of three more floors. The basement has
2 height of 214 meters, and the first floor now existing 6 meters,
“apable of supporting charges of 2,000 kilograms per square meter.
Warehouse No. 2 has a single floor covering 105 by 22 meters, con-
structed of iron and masonry, with a height at the peak of the roof of
13 meters and at the walls 8.50 meters.
Warehouse No. 3 is a tile-covered brick building with a wooden
‘rame, covering 90 by 50 meters; maximum height 514 meters, and
at the walls 3.80 meters.
Special warehouse has the same construction as the previous ware-
house but much smaller, covering only 31 by 6 meters.
Warehouses Nos. 1 and 2 are situated along the wharf, and ware-
houses Nos. 3 and 4 (special warehouse) are parallel with the back of
l and 2. There are also a few other buildings, such as the transformer
house, guards’ barracks, and dining hall for the workmen.
Equipment.—The wharf is equipped with three electrical cranes of 3
tons capacity, manufactured by Babcock & Wilcox, which run on a
track along the wharf, for facilitating direct discharge from the boat
nto the warehouse or onto freight cars.
The warehouses are further equipped with mechanical conveyers
and loaders for high stacking and wheels for transporting large cases
such as automobile boxes, ete.
Petroleum products storage.~—The oil installation of the port which
vas formerly part of the deposito franco, or free port, has now been
separated from that jurisdiction, although the tanks occupy part of
the area included in the original plan. Due to the establishment of
the petroleum monopoly the administration of the petroleum products
has been handed over to that corporation.
The petroleum products storage station has pipe lines direct to the
loading wharf of the free port, and storage capacity for all qualities
of some 21,500,000 liters. Amounts generally on hand are 3,000 to
1,000 tons of fuel oil, which may be pumped into ships or out of ships
it the rate of 200 tons an hour.
Rail and highway *connections.—The free port is served by the
Bilbao-Portugalete Railway, a branch of the Caminos de Hierro del
Norte de Espana, which has a network of connections reaching to all
Parts of Spain, particularly to Madrid and Barcelona, and is the
berminal of the highway from Bilbao to Santurce in which the free
Port is located.
At the present time the charges for rail transportation from the
ree port are unduly high, owing to the Bilbao-Portugalete Railway
having been bought by the Norte at a greatly inflated value, necessi-
"ating the maintenance of high charges for that particular stretch of
ome 16 kilometers to Bilbao, so as to justify the price paid and
47068°—29—15
