Antwerp is now the chief port on the Continent. Since 1873 the progress
has continued, and made very rapid advances. In 1883 the tonnage of the
port reached 3,734,428 registered tons. This marvelous development is
partly due to the position of Antwerp as the embarking point from the
Continent of Europe to America, and partly also to the recent additions
and changes which have been carried out there, and which, now nearly
completed, have made this cosmopolitan port one of the best organized in
the world. This is so well known that vessels bound for Switzerland with
a cargo of corn from Russia pass Marseilles and go two thousand miles
out of their way for the purpose of unloading at Antwerp. No other port,
in fact, offers the same facilities. There is not another place in the
world where fifty vessels of 3,000 tons can come alongside as easily as
the penny boats on the Thames run into the landing.
[Illustration: CAISSONS FOR DEEPENING THE RIVER AT ANTWERP.]
Since the opening of the St. Gothard Tunnel nearly all the alimentary
provisions that Italy sends to the British Isles pass through Antwerp.
In 1882 82,000,000 eggs and 30,000 pounds of fruit were shipped there
for England. The greater part of these came from Italy. Antwerp has
become also an important port for emigrants; 35,125 embarked in 1882,
out of which number 3,055 were bound for New York. The city was always
destined, from its topographical position, to be at the head of a very
considerable traffic; political reasons alone for many years prevented
this being the case. These have happily now disappeared, and, since
1863, when the "Scheldt was liberated," the progress of commerce has
been more rapid than even the most ardent Antwerp patriot dared hope. At
that date the toll of 1s. 11d. on all vessels going up the river, and of
7½d. on vessels going down, was abolished, and reforms were introduced
among the taxes on the general navigation; the tax on tonnage in the
port itself was abolished, and the pilot tax was lowered. The results of
these measures became immediately apparent. Traffic increased with
such rapidity that in 1876 the crowding on the quays was such that the
relation of the tonnage to the length of the quay was about 270 tons per
yard, which is four times as great as at Liverpool.
A few words now, briefly, as to the nature of the important works[1]
completed at Antwerp. They were commenced in 1877, and have opened for
the port an era of prosperity such as was never experienced even during
the sixteenth century, the zenith of her splendor. These works have
cost £4,000,000, and have necessitated the employment of 12,000 tons
of wrought iron, of 490,000 cubic yards of brickwork and concrete, of
32,000 cubic yards of masonry, and of more than 3,300,000 cubic yards
of earthwork in filling and dredging, etc. The quay walls run the whole
length of the town, a distance of rather more than two miles. It rests
on a foundation laid without timber footings, and giving a depth of
twenty-six feet at low water, sufficient drawing for the largest ships
afloat. Beyond this wall are the real quays, which consists of first a
line of rails reserved for hydraulic cranes serving to unload vessels
and deposit their cargo railway trucks; secondly, a second line of rails
parallel with the first, on which these trucks are stationed; thirdly,
sheds extending toward the town for a width of one hundred and fifty
feet, and covered with galvanized iron sheetings. A third line of rails
parallel with the two others runs from end to end of these sheds, and a
number of lines placed transversely with this one connect it by means of
spring bridges with, fourthly, four more lines also parallel with the
quays, whence the goods start for the different stations, and thence to
their destinations. The total width of these immense constructions is
about three hundred and twenty feet. Such is their magnitude that about
six hundred houses had to be pulled down to make place for them. A
railing running along their entire length cuts them off from the town.
[Transcribers note 1: changed from 'words']
During the course of last year 4,379 vessels entered the port of
Antwerp, gauging a total of 3,734,428 tons, which places Antwerp, as I
have already stated, at the head of European ports. In 1882 the tonnage
of Havre was only 2,200,000, that of Genoa 2,250,000, and of Bilboa
315,000, owing to its iron ore exports. Among the English ports a few
only exceed Antwerp. London is still the first port in the world, with
a tonnage of 10,421,000 tons, and Liverpool the second, with 7,351,000
tons; Newcastle follows with 6,000,000 tons, also in excess of Antwerp,
but both Hull and Glasgow are below, with respectively 1,875,000 and
2,110,000 tons.--_Pall Mall Gazette_.
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