A fee or charge for using a dock to moor or unload a ship; or the space available for docking vessels.
From 'dock' (a waterside structure) plus '-age' (a suffix meaning space, fee, or action). The term emerged in the 16th-17th centuries as maritime commerce expanded in English ports.
Dockage fees were a major revenue source for port cities, and disputes over dockage rates were sometimes serious enough to spark riots—it was medieval shipping's equivalent of parking meter wars.
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