Nortraship - British Pressure For More Tonnage

British Pressure For More Tonnage

Even though most of the Norwegian ships were sailing for the Allies, the British in April 1941 wanted more. This was a delicate dilemma for Norway and Nortraship; on the one hand Norway was allied with and dependent on Britain, on the other the "free ships" that were sailing from the neutral US generated hard US dollars, much needed for reconstruction of Norway after the war. Moreover, voyages to the British Isles were the most dangerous, and Nortraship argued that the modern Norwegian tankers would be better utilised in other trades. A more hidden agenda was the Norwegian fear that the British and the USA would use the war to secure an unfair competitive postwar position.

An initial mutual understanding was reached in a meeting in the British Ministry of Shipping on 19 March 1941: Nortraship was to transfer 500,000 tons of its "free ships". Even though the agreement was not officially signed until October, the work of tonnage transfer started.

Nortraship London under Hysing Olsen tended to favour the British, while Nortraship New York under Lorentzen had a more businesslike stance. As Allied losses increased dramatically, the British on 29 April 1941 demanded all Norwegian ships. This was a total surprise for the Norwegians. Nortraship's New York office tried to influence the US through the US Maritime Commission, arguing that Norwegian vessels were much needed for US import and export; in fact only 30% of it was on US keel in 19396.

After hard negotiations with both the British and US shipping administrations, a new tonnage agreement was signed on 10 October 1941, effectively letting Britain charter 3/4 of all Norwegian vessels.

In the negotiations Nortraship tried to secure the US dollar freight income, to obtain a more equal footing with the British in governing the Allied merchant fleet, and to receive assurances regarding Norwegian shipping rights after the war. In the currency issue Nortraship's stance seems to have prevailed, while in governing the Allied merchant fleet an Anglo-Norwegian Shipping Committee was established that despite scores of meetings only superficially handled the issue. Finally, the British only gave vague promises as to their postwar shipping policies. In the two-year period from 9 April 1940 to 9 April 1942 a total of 157 Norwegian tankers made 615 voyages and delivered 6.9 million tons of oil, supplying some 1/3 of the total requirements of the British Isles.