Information
In common with much of Western Europe, the older traditional industries in Catalonia, such as textiles, declined in the face of foreign competition. The surviving companies closed their factories in the city or along the rivers, leaving industrial wastelands or abandoned workers' colonies. In many cases within Spain, these industries moved to the Zona Franca (Catalan: Polígon Industrial de la Zona Franca).
The free trade area was constructed in two phases. The first phase covered an area of 70 hectares; the second phase, covering an area of 140 hectares, started construction in 1995.
The free trade zone is located within the port area, not far away from downtown Barcelona, and is easy to access. It is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) away from the Barcelona International Airport, and connected via highway and railway.
Business investors here rent offices or bonded warehouses. They can also elect to purchase land to erect their own buildings.
The free trade zone offers a series of services. It is divided into a comprehensive service area, truck / lorry area, reception area and sports facilities area. It has a customs duties service, bonded warehousing service, advanced telecommunication and computer system, security system, combined multiple transport system and so on.
Read more about this topic: Port Of Barcelona
Famous quotes containing the word information:
“On the breasts of a barmaid in Sale
Were tattooed the prices of ale;
And on her behind
For the sake of the blind
Was the same information in Braille.”
—Anonymous.
“Computers are good at swift, accurate computation and at storing great masses of information. The brain, on the other hand, is not as efficient a number cruncher and its memory is often highly fallible; a basic inexactness is built into its design. The brain’s strong point is its flexibility. It is unsurpassed at making shrewd guesses and at grasping the total meaning of information presented to it.”
—Jeremy Campbell (b. 1931)
“The information links are like nerves that pervade and help to animate the human organism. The sensors and monitors are analogous to the human senses that put us in touch with the world. Data bases correspond to memory; the information processors perform the function of human reasoning and comprehension. Once the postmodern infrastructure is reasonably integrated, it will greatly exceed human intelligence in reach, acuity, capacity, and precision.”
—Albert Borgman, U.S. educator, author. Crossing the Postmodern Divide, ch. 4, University of Chicago Press (1992)