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Marseilles Wins Place as Port Years of Competition with Genoa To Be Rewarded When the Rhone Canal Finally Is Completed ARSEILLES 1s the terminal M port, the chief- gateway and the largest. trafic. port of France with North Africa, the Far Eastern colonies and the Near East. It possesses one passenger line, that of the Fabre Co., recently acquiréd by ‘the Compagnie Generale Trans- atlantique, running passenger and freight steamers to North American ports and still others to South and Central America and the Antilles. The position of Marseilles is the result of a long struggle to compete with Genoa as a seaport gateway to. Central Europe in general, and Swit- zerland in particular. In the dnitense rivalry between the - two ports, the advantage seems to lie with Marseilles. The only objections to the port as now operated will be changed when the Marseilles-Rhone- Switzerland-Rhine project is carried to completion. It is a recorded fact spite of BY FRANCIS MILTOUN that from 1893 to 1913, berthing space in the port of Marseilles shad in- creased only 17 per cent while the trafic had increased 82 per cent. The traffic at ithis time surpassed that of Bordeaux, La Havre and Dunkirk. com- bined. The entire berthing accommo- dation of the port has increased from 60 acres to 530 acres in a century and comprises 10 distinct basins, with \ ©Salon opnillon > ; ° O”ALY Chateauneuf les R ae: martigucs a Dy o* . @ fer_de mira 2 l'Estaq” in the Lazaret basin. The net profits in 1919 were 2,982,000 francs, which provided a share dividend of 25 per cent. Marseilles is the first and only among European ports to thave its Wilson dock. .Tihis dock, the Bas- sin Wilson, came into being with the AB rR pase establishment of the wu fo} WWentabren Velsux a S : fs . agnac Vitrolles Cabries® vers CANAL EXTENSION WHICH IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE TRAFFIC THROUGH MARSEILLES. AT LEFT, CROSS SECTION OF TUNNEL SECTION Or CANAL. : ABOVE, WILSON DOCK AT MARSEILLES 56 kilometers of railway sidings and 210 hydraulic, steam and electric cranes. Accessory to ithe port is the Com- pagnie des Docks et Entrepots with a working capital of 39,000,000 francs, which operates docks and warehouses. This company was created in 1859. Besides warehouses and cold storage plants, it owns and operates the lo- eal graving docks, the largest of which thas a length of 172 meters. The cold storage plant has recently been increased from a capacity of 1500 tons tto 9000 tons and a smaller auxiliary plant has ‘been established 50 in 1918. The pier space with en- closed sheds is practically half a kilometer in length, along its three sides. Entrance from the open Medi- terranean is through a deep water chan- nel, 300 feet wide. The quays have a constant depth of water alongside of from 36 to 40 feet. Eight electric cranes, bought of the American army when it withdrew, form a part of the freight handling equipment of this model dock. Another modern dock is the Bassin Mirabeau, adjoining the Wilson dock. This will have, when completed, an