44
WAREHOUSES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
kilos (220.46 pounds) per month for such merchandise as metals,
marble, and guano, to 65 centimes ($0.125) for furs, pharmaceutical
products, and camphor, and, exceptionally, 3.60 francs ($0.694) for
essences and essential oils.
This warehouse is very conveniently placed for the storage of
goods in or out of bond, and offers to intending importers an excel
lent opportunity for the preservation of their goods pending sale.
Atttlio Piatti,
Vice and Acting Consul.
Nice, France, August 10, 190V
ROUEN.
(From United States Consul Haynes, Rouen, France.)
BUILDINGS, MANAGEMENT, AND SERVICE.
As long ago as 1835 the Rouen Chamber of Commerce constructed
two 2-story warehouses in the rear of the principal customs office.
These old buildings are still used to some extent for the storage of
coffee, pepper, and liquids.
The present capacious warehouses of Rouen were built by the city
in 1860 facing the principal maritime basin on the right of the Seine,
the most important of the buildings being only 75 yards from the
wharf. The warehouses are constructed of brick, stone, and iron, are
four stories high and receive every kind of merchandise, whether in
sacks, cases, barrels, or loose, such as grains. One building is allotted
for the storage of domestic sugar alone.
On account of the short distance, goods are discharged from ships
or railway cars by hand, sacks being carried on the back, cases on
trucks, and barrels rolled. Steam windlasses are used to reach stories
above the ground floor. All ground-floor space is reserved for liq
uids, such as wines, brandies, oils, etc., and for soaps and greases;
the first story contains grains, thread, cloth, and divers merchandise
necessitating dryness. One building contains vast wooden reservoirs
for the reception of wines, and also iron vats for the warehousing of
oils, especially heavy mineral oils; the story above is equipped in a
manner to permit the rapid and economical emptying of wine into the
reservoirs. The iron vats for the mineral oils are filled directly from
tank steamers by subterranean pipes. Another depot, consisting of
only one story, receives cotton in bales, wools, and divers merchandise.
The interior courts of these different warehouses are used for the
storage of coal, wood, etc., and are crossed by the side tracks from
the railway which passes near.
In 1877 the city of Rouen ceded these warehouses to a company
called the “ Compagnie des Docks et Entrepôts de Rouen.”
The total cost of the land, construction, installation of vats, wind
lasses, etc., amounted to about $1,000,000. The surface covered by
the buildings and floors is 552,000 square feet, and that of the interior
courts, 242,000 square feet.