Free ports are ports or airports through which goods may pass without payment of customs duties and taxes. Free ports attract a large number of support and service industries. They provide an important source of employment and act as an investment incentive.
Hong Kong and Singapore are among the world’s best-known free ports. In the Philippines, the government created a free port zone at Subic Bay after United States forces withdrew from their naval base there in 1992. Free ports in the Caribbean include Kingston and Montego Bay, Jamaica.
An example of a free port that deals with air cargo is the area around Shannon Airport in the Republic of Ireland. It became a duty-free zone in 1947.
