The_Open_Door_deel1

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A characteristic common to all four ports is that they were
financed by foreign sources. The Free Port of Monrovia was
financed by Lend-Lease funds (1948), .the Port of Harper by a
loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank (1958/59), the Port of
Buchanan was constructed and financed by LAMCO (1963), and the
Port of Greenville was started by the German-owned African Fruit
Company and completed with funds provided by the Federal Republic
of Germany (1964). The Port of Robertsport, in Grand Cape Mount
County, has not yet been developed but if L.I.S.C.O. were to
start its operations this might change.
The change which the Liberian water transport sector underwent
during the past forty years is shown by Annex 37 and 38. Annex 37
shows the situation during the Second World War (1941, 1942 and
1943) and prior to the construction of the Monrovia Free Port.
Liberia's major port was then Marshall, which owed this position
to the operations of the Firestone Plantations Company. This
company used Marshall as the closest outlet for the produce of
its plantation. About 70 per cent of all port traffic in these
years was handled through Marshall. Most traffic volume was
handled by U.S. owned and registered ships which corresponds with
the Firestone dominated international trade of these three years.
Whereas in 1941, 84 out of 120 vessels which called on Liberian
ports were U.S. vessels, the following year 51 out of 83 were
U.S. vessels. In 1943 the number of ships calling on a Liberian
port had dropped further to 63, of which 49 vessels were either
U.S. owned or registered (32).
The post-war period witnessed the emergence of Monrovia as
Liberia's most important port. During the 195O's this trend
continued and at the end of that decade the Free Port of Monrovia
handled all trade in iron ore and in petroleum products, and
about 90 per cent of the general cargo. With the construction of
the Port of Buchanan by LAMCO this situation changed. At the end
of the 1960's Buchanan even handled a larger volume of iron ore
than Monrovia (see Annex 38). The end of the 196O's also
witnessed the growing importance of the port of Greenville
notably as regards the export of logs. In 1967 hardly any logs
were exported from this port but the following year more than
31,000 tons were reportedly exported. This had been made possible
by the opening up of the interior through the completion of the
road between Tchlen and Greenville (33).
At the end of the 1970's the Ports of Monrovia and of Buchanan
were used by the four iron ore mining concessionaires and handled
all iron ore exported from Liberia. Each port handled about 50
per cent of these exports whereas the Port of Buchanan was only
used by LAMCO. Both ports are deep-water ports and are used by
ocean-going vessels, unlike the ports of Greenville and Harper
which are mostly used by coastal vessels. Only Greenville is
occasionally used by - small - ocean freighters. As can be seen
in Annex 38 most of Liberia's international trade is handled in
the Ports of Monrovia and of Buchanan. It is worth mentioning
that the latter is almost exclusively used to satisfy the needs
of LAMCO and its expatriate employees. In the early 1970's it
was reported that the commercial cargo for consignees other than