Uy, , 
FOREIGN TRADE ZONES 
ALBANIA 
Although Albania shipped into the Greek free zone only 37 tons 
and 135 tons of freight in 1926 and 1927, respectively, the traffic 
movement from the free zone into Albania in these two years 
amounted to 2,285 tons and 3,044 tons, respectively. 
Hides and skins constituted the bulk of the Albanian exports to 
the free zone. However, the exports from the free zone of foreign 
products into Albania consisted chiefly of manufactured or other 
processed goods. In 1927 this trade included rice, 170 tons; animal 
products, 116 tons; flour, 29 tons; sugar, 125 tons; textiles, 200 tons; 
pottery and glassware, 110 tons; wrought metals, 366 tons; paper, 
107 tons; cement, 385 tons, etc. 
Practically all of these products were shipped by rail to Florina, 
on the Saloniki-Monastir Line, and from there transported by wagons 
or automobile trucks to southern and eastern Albania, which can 
not be readily served by the Adriatic seaboard. 
The building of railways in Albania, however, would undoubtedly 
Jirect this trade to its Adriatic ports. Albania is, therefore, not 
recarded as a potential factor in the free zone of Saloniki. 
[INFLUENCE OF THE FREE PORT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF FOREIGN 
TRADE AND MERCHANT MARINE 
What influence the free zones at Saloniki will have on the develop- 
ment of foreign trade and the merchant marine depends on numerous 
factors. As has been shown In previous chapters to this report, the 
sransit trade of Saloniki during the first two years of the operation 
of the Greek free zone did not reach a very large volume and was 
chiefly for the account of Yugoslavia. An increase in this transit 
traffic depends primarily on the establishment of adequate railway 
connections between Greece and her neighboring states, especially 
Bulgaria, Rumania, and Albania, as well as the establishment of 
amicable relations and confidence between the Balkan people. 
Bulgaria is probably the most important potential factor in the 
development of the transit trade at Saloniki. At the same time, 
with the establishment of adequate railway connections between 
Saloniki and Bulgaria, & new geld in southern Bulgaria, which is now 
without railways, will be opened to international trade. The free 
sone should benefit materially from the distribution of this trade. 
With the expansion of the transit trade through the free zones of 
Saloniki, there will undoubtedly be an increase in the number of 
vessels using this port. At the present time the trade of this port 
is served by the vessels of many nations, some of which operate in 
regular services and others in tramp services. Approximately two- 
thirds of the vessels which called at Saloniki during the year 1927 
were under Greek registry. Greek vessels brought 30 per cent of