free port

American  

noun

1. a port or special section of a port where goods may be unloaded, stored, and shipped without payment of customs duties.

2. a port open under equal conditions to all traders.

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free port British  

noun

1. a port open to all commercial vessels on equal terms

2. Also called: free zone.  a zone adjoining a port that permits the duty-free entry of foreign goods intended for re-export

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Etymology

Origin of free port

First recorded in 1705–15

Example Sentences

Odesa’s free port status financed its extraordinary architectural flowering in the 1800s and helped build its vibrant multiethnic society.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 21, 2024

A free port, sometimes called a free trade zone or special economic zone, is normally an area of a country where its taxes and tariffs do not apply.

From BBC • Nov. 28, 2018

Returning to its pre-revolutionary status of a free port, Vladivostok and the region is now subject to special custom and tax rules.

From The Guardian • Dec. 18, 2015

Other collectors, she added, are starting to move their art to the free port of Luxembourg, where they can store it while the political process unfolds.

From New York Times • Jul. 18, 2015

Ostend was made a free port, and large bonding facilities were afforded at Bruges, Brussels, Ghent and Louvain.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 1 "Franciscans" to "French Language" by Various