free port
1
4.1
- noun
- /fri pɔrt/
- Specialized
- Tangier is a free port where goods can be imported without customs duties.
Examples
-
I'm afraid, sir, Tortuga is the only free port left in these waters.
-
You know, Bimini is a free port and we got a marvellous buy on them.
-
In practical terms, however, Mission was technically a free port.
Fiction book (1996) -
Tangier is a free port.
Fiction book (1995) -
We've opened free ports across the country just in the last few days.
-
Some commentators have blamed the opening of the free port in Copenhagen in 1894 as a contributing cause of its demise.
Academic text (1993) -
Number 5 is Rijeka (Fiume), which gained its importance in the early eighteenth century when it was proclaimed a free port.
Academic text (1993) -
Nepal has also suggested that the Bangladesh port of Chittagong be made a free port and developed as a major gateway to the seas for the entire north and northeast subregion of South Asia, including parts of Myanmar.
Academic text (1998) -
At the same time, the rise of the Austrian Empire north of the Adriatic Gulf stressed the importance of Triest and Fiume (Rijeka), which were declared free ports.
Academic text (1993) -
In order to attract a population to the city, Cosimo declared Livorno a porto franco (free port), with less strict customs duties than the rest of Tuscany.
Academic text (2015)
Synonyms
39
4.1
An area near a port where companies store goods for export without paying customs duties
1
9.9
A port or warehouse that stores goods and sends them on, often without import taxes
1
6.1
A port where goods arrive and leave without paying import taxes
Surface Forms
Morphology
Knowing 'free' (without charge) and 'port' (harbour/entry point) gives a reasonable clue that this is a port with reduced or no charges, so learners may infer something like 'no-cost access'. However, the full, specialized sense — an institutional area where goods can be imported, stored, and re-exported without paying customs duties — is a technical, legal concept not fully predictable from the simple constituents. Cross-linguistic equivalents exist (e.g., puerto franco, port franc), which aids comprehension, but the meaning remains only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The noun free port comes from the literal idea of a port where goods are free from border taxes and can be stored in special warehouses. That's why it means a place where goods can be brought in, kept, and sent out again 'without paying customs duties'.