The Società Marittima Italiana and the Società Italiana di Servizi Marittimi both maintain fortnightly services from Genoa or Venice to Alexandria, Jaffa, Haifa, Beirut, Tripoli, Alexandretta, Mersina, and from Venice to Beirut by Rhodes or the Piraeus. Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company: weekly from Odessa to Constantinople, Smyrna, Mersina, Alexandretta, Latakia, Tripoli, Beirut, Haifa, Jaffa, and Egypt. Many pilgrims from Russia come this way.
The recurrence of Alexandria in these services is noticeable. That port, moreover, receives the bulk of the British exports to Syria, which are sent from Liverpool or Manchester, and reshipped from Alexandria to their destination.
Besides these mail steamers, numerous merchant vessels call more or less frequently, those of the Rumanian Service Maritime, the Deutsche Levante Linie, and the Bulgarian Varna Company sometimes taking passengers as well as cargo. Among British lines are the Prince, Moss, Ellerman, Asia Minor Steamship Company, and Westcott and Laurance; the Orient is Belgian, with British boats. A " conference " or syndicate, including the Prince Line, Westcott and Laurance, the Deutsche Levante Linie, the German Atlas Linie, the Belgian Armement Adolf Deppe, and the Royal Netherlands Line, with sailings from London, Antwerp, and the chief German and Dutch ports, was established for the unification of freights and the exclusion of competition. A curious feature of this combine was that goods for Syria of German origin enjoyed cheaper rates than those of other countries. Ottoman shipping, apart from the small sailing vessels engaged in the coasting trade, has much decreased since 1911.
(c) Telegraphic Communication Abroad
There is no direct cable between Syria and Europe. Foreign telegrams may go either by Constantinople or by Egypt through the Eastern Telegraph Company. A
