FOREIGN TRADE ZONES

30

there are five cranes for bunkering coal. There are oil-bunkering
facilities of the most modern type in the free port. The free port of
Santander has 42 steel tanks with a capacity of 21,000,000 litres for
the storage of lubricants, gasoline, and Diesel oil, which is used to
supply the national market and to bunker ships entering the port.
Cadiz has coal-bunkering facilities, as shown by the photograph
on page 218. At Trieste there is a limited amount of coal and oil bunkering
 with the use of lighters. Sulina, Fiume, and Genoa have facilities
 for storing or manipulating petroleum and petroleum products,
>ut no data are available showing to what extent bunkering is carried
on at these ports.
Except for a countervailing duty on bituminous coal and shale
imported from countries imposing duties, there is no duty assessed
on this commodity in the ports of the United States. Nearly all of the
dutiable coal comes from Canada. Petroleum and its products are
not subject to duty.
Where the area of the free port is sufficient to permit the allotment
of space for bunkering, the establishment of these facilities would be a
convenience to vessels. The United States customs regulations, however,
 impose no hardships upon vessels entering solely for fuel. They
provide that vessels arriving in distress or for the purpose of taking
on bunker coal, bunker oil, or necessary sea stores and which depart
within 24 hours after arrival without having landed or taken on board
any merchandise other than bunker coal, bunker oil, or necessary
sea stores, are not required to make entry at the customhouse,
provided the master, owner, or agent reports under oath to the collector
 the hour and date of arrival and depdrture and the quantity
»f bunker coal, bunker oil, or sea stores taken on board.
The opportunity of taking fuel without shifting from her assigned
verth is always a great convenience to a ship. Usually this is accomplished
 by means of bunkering lighters and barges, or sometimes,
in the case of oil, by pipe lines with loading heads on the piers or
wharves.
Where the free zone is in or contiguous to an established port, it is
believed that the use of bunkering barges both for coal and oil offers
the best solution of the bunkering problem in free ports. These
barges would have to be bonded under rules to be prescribed. This
method would effectively prevent any advantage to foreign coal,
upon which countervailing duties are ordinarily assessed. It would
make unnecessary the use of any part of the free-port area for storage
of these bulk commodities. In the case of oil, it would be feasible to
locate storage tanks outside the free zone, with pipe lines reaching the
wharves of the free port.
A4706R° 904