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

But there are moves to promote more autonomous zones, free ports and charter cities.

From BBC

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

From Los Angeles Times

As part of their pitch, they proposed that Orkney become an “innovation free port,” to be given the regulatory and fiscal flexibility to explore new technical and structural solutions.

From Washington Post

Into this narrative, “The Lost Leonardo” weaves coherent mini-treatises on restoration, art dealerships, free ports, the true nature of the auctioneering business and more.

From New York Times

And once works are purchased, many of them, including some of the world’s most expressive and expensive, end up hidden away in cavernous, nondescript, tax-sheltered free ports, their whereabouts largely unknown.

From New York Times