Is the entire wharf line of buildings bugged? I thought I remember reading once that it was just the initial wharf building that was bugged. It grants you one trade fleet, but since the port already grants you one anyway, the wharf has no net benefit aside from the trade bonus...

Originally Posted by Belisarius Invictus

One problem I see is how to make a province like Venice have its historical trade importance. Obviously Venice didn't do that much trade because it manufactured more products... it simply was very good at trading goods from other nations. So, I would think that means trade would be more a function of the size of your port... but then everyone could build huge ports in every single coastal province, which doesn't make sense. Basically, there needs to be a reason why some cities gain importance over others.
Just give Venice a Merchants Guild HQ from the get-go...