Commercial Basin (ETW building)
| Commercial Basin | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category: | Port - Trade | ||||||
| Level: | 2 | ||||||
| Turns to build: | 4 | ||||||
| Building cost: | 5000 | ||||||
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| Requires | |||||||
 Commercial Port | |||||||
| Technology | |||||||
 | |||||||
| Enables | |||||||
 Global Trading Company | |||||||
With the addition of exchanges, shipping agents, customs houses, even more warehouses and even more docks, a basin becomes an economic powerhouse.
A commercial basin opens up new opportunities for trade, as agents now put together cargoes and charter vessels for merchants who would otherwise be unable to trade. Money, rather than sea experience, becomes the driving force for success, and trade does not even need to go through the basin to make money for the men of property!
The infamous triangle of trade between Bristol and Liverpool in England, Africa and the Caribbean sugar islands is possibly one of the most profitable trades ever invented. Manufactured goods, guns, cloth and trinkets went to Africa, where they were traded to the local warlords. Slaves, carried in the most horrendous conditions imaginable, made up the cargo for the middle run, across the Atlantic. In the Caribbean, the survivors were sold, and the ships loaded with sugar and rum for the run back to Britain. There was a handsome profit on each leg, and the ships were never idle. Even better, the merchants of Bristol and Liverpool never needed to see the suffering their commerce caused, always assuming that they cared.