Galveston was judged as best; its small size would not encourage large numbers of Jews to settle there permanently and it provided convenience and closer access to the growing economic opportunities in Texas, the American Midwest, and the American West. In spite of the devastating 1900 hurricane it was still one of the nation's leading ports, and it was already a destination of the German shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd, which operated out of Bremen, the major point of European embarkation.