attained to more than 14,000 ships with a total of about 3.7 million net register tons; in 1922 the number of vessels was 15,663 and the total tonnage 3,762,684. In 1923 the port dealt with 18,763 ships with a total tonnage of 4,666,049 tons. This is only a few thousand tons less than in the record year of 1913. Since the war, traffic has thus now increased by more than 8,000 ships and about 2.7 million net register tons, and as this increase was attained despite the fact that the Baltic traffic with Russia and the Border States is still very small, the situation of the port of Copenhagen may in reality be described as very much better than in the record year 1913. The number of vessels is, indeed, less than in 1913, but as the tonnage is almost just as great, this simply means that the port is visited by larger ships than previously. As to the quantities of goods, the total in 1923 was 4.9 million tons, which was about 1,000,000 tons more than in 1922. Of the figure for 1923, 3.2 million tons represented imports from abroad and about 600,000 tons supplies from other parts of Denmark, whilst exports to other countries amounted to about 550,000 tons and shipments to home ports about 604,000 tons. During the last one or two years there has been no labour trouble in the port of Copenhagen, so that in this direction too the position has been at least just as good as before the war. THE FREE PORT AND ITS SPECIAL ADVANTAGES The establishment of the Free Port in 1894 made it possible to consolidate the ancient reputation of the Port of Copenhagen as the >>Queen of the Baltic<, and to exploit the favourable situation of the Danish capital for shipping by means of all the appliances of modern times. The port gained fresh advantages if only from the fact that the entrances were at that time improved and the depths increased, whilst the port facilities were brought on a level with the most extreme demands of the times. Before long it became evident that the new plant was quickly able to overcome the initial difficulties which every big enterprise has to cope with, and comparatively few years passed before every square metre of the Free Port area was occupied by new concerns, whilst the quays and warehouses were overcrowded with goods and the basins filled to the point of congestion with ships. Great extensions therefore became necessary. Originally, the Free Port had a land area of 36.4 hectares and a water area of 24.3 hectares, with a length of quays totalling 3,643 metres. After repeated extensions, including those undertaken in 1915 and the following years, these figures have been raised to 51.8 and 33.4 hectares, and 4,773 metres respectively. The principal basins of the Free Port are the East, West and Central Basins, the Kroneløb Basin and the North Basin, all deepened to meet the most modern demands. Beside a number of smaller Basins, the Free Port also accommodates a ferry berth, which is the base of a daily steam-ferry connection with Sweden. Taken as a whole, the Free Port is the most modern part of the Port of Copenhagen, and it comprises the principal portion of its excellent facilities. In particular it provides calling vessels with the best opportunity of bunkering with coal or oil. The warehouses and all mechanical apparatus are constructed with special regard to the most rapid despatch of ships and goods possible. One very special advantage in the use of the Free Port of Copenhagen is the exemption from Customs duties which it affords. All kinds of goods may be discharged, stored, manufactured and re-exported to other countries without being subject to any duty whatever. It is only when goods are forwarded further on into Denmark, or are intended for Danish consumption, that they have to go through the Customs, and on goods intended for consumption in Denmark the port dues are only collected when the goods are taken from the Free Port to the Customs area. A WORLD TRAFFIC CENTRE AND THE KEY TO THE BALTIC The Port of Copenhagen, and its Free Port, open directly into the deep Sound. Through the "Øresund" there is, from the North, access for the biggest vessels, whereas the fairway from the Baltic (Drogden) at present has a depth of 6.9 metres only, although at the present time it is being deepened to 8.5 metres. As tides are unknown in the whole area, entrance is easy at all hours of the day. The great overseas traffic has the best possible and most convenient access from the North, and naturally the Port of Copenhagen has thus become the terminal and port of call for a large number of overseas shipping lines. Since the end of the war especially the number of large steamers and motor-ships which regularly enjoy the advantages of the principal port in Denmark has rapidly increased, and thus Copenhagen is in regular and direct communication with all parts of the world. This intimacy with the rest of the world has its special significance, however, in the fact that the Port of Copenhagen, owing to its situation, has become the key to the Baltic and the Baltic countries. As a natural consequence Danish shipowners have in the course of many years acquired, for the navigation of the Baltic and all its adjacent waters, a large fleet of both tramps and liners, which have been especially constructed with an eye to the depths of the Drogden and the waters round the Baltic ports. The Port of Copenhagen has also, by means of special arrangements, been equipped to take its place as the port of transhipment for goods to the Baltic ports, in which respect it offers the best possible conditions; there is also the circumstance that very many Danes have a thorough knowledge of commercial and trading conditions in the German and Polish Baltic districts as well as in the eastern Baltic countries where, by many years' residence, they have gained valuable experience, and where many Danish firms have established branches. These advantages have long been recognised in foreign trading and shipping circles. In 1918, when Mr. Hoover's representative, Mr. Magnus Swensson, travelled round Europe for the purpose of considering the distribution of American food products in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries, he quickly decided upon Copenhagen as a centre of distribution, and the New York paper "The Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin" wrote in this connection: "The American business man will undoubtedly follow Mr. Swensson's example when the era of trade and business shall have replaced that of charity and chaos a day near at hand, may be even in Russia, where internal peace will bring economic and material progress to an extent undreamt of now. Not only its ideal situation, but also its splendid free port makes Copenhagen the natural clearing house for the trade on the Baltic." This widely-read paper continued: "Situated on the highway of traffic from the Atlantic to the Baltic, Copenhagen is the foremost port of transhipment for the trade from America to the Baltic countries. When a ship is bound for the Baltic with 700 tons of goods for Libau, 1200 tons for Danzig, 300 tons for Petrograd, 800 tons for Helsingfors and |