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

Congress actually passed a bill in 1932 making these buildings a free port, which enabled importers to bring goods in duty free and store them on the premises — a commercial masterstroke.

From New York Times • Apr. 15, 2020

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

The proposed establishment of a free port at Colon may yet result in a western Hongkong where the commerce of the seven seas comes together to be distributed to the five continents.

From Prowling about Panama by Miller, George A.