Why transshipment angered colonial merchants

The 1663 Act went beyond the earlier shipping rules. Goods for English colonies had to arrive through an English port, be unloaded, inspected, and reloaded before crossing the Atlantic. That compulsory transshipment imposed handling charges, inspection costs, and delays on both colonial exports and European imports. The burden was deliberate because English merchants collected the fees and English ships secured protected routes. The policy also stimulated shipyards, armed merchant shipping, demand for cannon, and the sailor pool from which the state mobilized the Royal Navy. Bristol, Gloucester, and Liverpool began to grow within this protected maritime system.