CUBA

No change from peacetime procedure has taken place in Cuba.

DENMARK

The Danish Rigsdag, following the outbreak of war in 1939, passed an emergency law relating to the Danish merchant marine. This law, No. 287, dated September 2, 1939, in part provided for the determination of ocean freight rates by a special board. The following is a free translation of the law.

A Freight Board is hereby established to assist the Government. The Freight Board shall consist of a chairman appointed by the King and nine members appointed by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Shipping. Seven of the members shall be appointed upon the recommendation of the Danish Steamship Owners Association, one upon the recommendation of the Danish Sailing-Ship Owners Association, and one upon the recommendation of the Danish SailingShip Owners Association for small vessels.

The Freight Board shall assist in the procurement in the most expedient and inexpensive manner of cargo space for supplies essential to the country, for which public cooperation is judged desirable or necessary; likewise it is incumbent upon the Board to inspect freight conditions and shipping developments and according to the circumstances, to assist shipowners with respect to the regulation of chartering.

For the execution of its duties, the Board is authorized to impose upon Danish shipowners the obligation to report to the Freight Board upon the position and routing of their ships, likewise the Freight Board may require the shipowners to send their ships on prescribed routes at freight rates determined by the Board with consideration for the average level of freight rates at the time of the trip. The Freight Board shall establish its own operating plan and engage necessary clerical assistance. The Freight Board may require all information necessary for its operation, either orally or written, from public authorities as well as private.

The Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Shipping is authorized to order the suppression of information as to ships' positions, movements, and cargoes, and to promulgate regulations necessary in this respect.

The Minister for Commerce, Industry, and Shipping is authorized to establish special rules with respect to the issuance of Danish nationality or registration certificates for purchased or newly built ships, and with respect to the withdrawal of certificates.

The Minister may prohibit the sale to foreign countries of Danish ships, likewise the Minister may prohibit the chartering of Danish ships to foreign countries on time or for trips.

The Minister may prescribe that the insurance money paid for the loss of Danish ships shall be used for the procurement of ships to replace those lost. Insofar as it is found necessary, the Minister for Commerce, Industry, and Shipping may deviate from the prescribed terms of the shipping-trade law and establish special regulations regarding the manning of Danish ships.

Declarations regarding conditions, covered by this law or the instructions issued under it, may be required to be made in good faith.

Violations of this law or any instructions issued under it, or the disregard of any orders issued by the Freight Board may be punished by fines ranging from 50 to 50,000 crowns, detention or imprisonment up to 2 years. The same punishment shall apply to those who by supplying false or misleading information or by the concealment of conditions, which may be of importance in the judgment of a matter, obtain or seek to obtain exceptions from or permits under the instructions issued for the execution of this law, as well as to those who act contrary to the terms under which an exception or permit is granted.

The fines shall accrue to the State Treasury. The liability to prosecution under this law shall be barred by the statute of limitations according to the terms of the Civil Criminal Code; however, the period necessary to bar prosecution, irrespective of the severity of the punishment due, is 5 years.

Profits, made through operations which are punishable under the terms of the above paragraph, or an amount, deemed to correspond thereto, as well as the goods, with respect to which the applicable offense is committed or attempted,

or if the goods are no longer at hand, the value of the goods, may by judgment be confiscated by the State Treasury. A person who is found liable to punishment for violations of the terms of this law or the instructions issued thereunder may, by judgment, be denied the right to carry on business for a prescribed time or permanently. The terms of this section shall be likewise applicable, when a person is punished under the Civil Criminal Code for the giving of false declarations concerning conditions embraced by this law.

This law, which is valid until March 31, 1940, becomes effective immediately.

At the time of writing this chapter, information had not come to hand as to whether the Danish Government had extended this law. Inasmuch, however, as Denmark soon afterward was occupied by German military forces, the operation of Danish shipping came largely to a standstill and the law became of little or no effect.

The Freight Board, prior to the occupation of Denmark by German forces, in the spring of 1940, exerted considerable influence on tramp shipping. One of the first notices of this Board was to the effect that no ships on the Danish register could be time-chartered to foreign interests without permission from the Board. Moreover, the Board reviewed all charters, especially covering shipments of coal, coke, and grain and acted as a clearing house in order to assist in providing the best and cheapest shipping to carry necessary supplies to Denmark under war conditions. It is said that the desires of the Board were complied with voluntarily and that Government coercion was unnecessary. Danish vessels were required to bring coal, coke, and grain to Denmark at fixed rates rather than at open rates, which in January 1940 were reported to be about 20 percent higher than the fixed rates.

The Freight Board is said not to have been forced to assume control over liner rates under Law No. 287 for the reason that shippers and liner operators, working together, set the rates to mutual advantage and the Freight Board agreed to this procedure. Another law was passed under date of November 10, 1939, relating to liner rates on the imports of feed grain. This authorized the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, up to the end of January 1940, to make provision for a decrease in freight on imports of feed grain of 2 crowns per 100 kilos or 20 crowns per metric ton (each crown being equal approximately to $0.193). The law was subsequently prolonged until March 31, 1940, but the relief of ocean freights was increased to 60 kroner per ton for feed grain, and a similar reduction was provided on fodder cakes-that is, in the amount of 20 kroner per ton.

In commenting on the Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian schemes, the Baltic and International Maritime Conference points out that the maximum rates are not fixed on the same basic conditions; direct comparisons are not therefore possible. For instance, the war-risks conditions differ, and the Norwegian terms include free discharge. "It is perhaps possible to foresee that, at any rate so far as the Swedish terms are concerned, some alterations may have to be introduced, as the basic conditions do not fully agree with the terms on which these cargoes have heretofore been carried. Nor will the addition for coke cargoes be sufficient to place the freight rates for these cargoes on the same level as those laid down for coal cargoes."

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The Danish Statistical Department published, early in 1940, freight index which showed a very rapid climb since hostilities began in September 1939, as evidenced by the following table:

The Egyptian Government did not exercise any control over rates following the outbreak of war and the establishment of a state of siege in Egypt.

Outstanding among the changes affecting ocean freight rates arising out of the war were (a) the large increase in rates on all categories of goods, the increase amounting in some cases to 100 percent or more; (b) the irregularity of service of liners, the delay being due to contraband control exercised by the Allied navies, particularly that established at Gibraltar; (c) the smaller number of ships made available for Egypt by some shipping concerns; and (d) the discontinuance of the granting of deferred rebates, premiums, etc., to shippers, as also the reluctance of some shipping concerns to bind themselves by contracts.

As illustrating the increase in freight rates, there are given below a few representative examples of the rates ruling in February 1940 as compared with the pre-war rates.

With the outbreak of the war, the French Government undertook to control ocean freight rates in foreign trade by means of its authority over the leading French shipping companies and through the Bureau of Maritime Transport of the Merchant Marine Ministry. In a notice to importers and exporters published by this ministry in the Journal Officiel of October 14, 1939, all French state agencies, public bodies, groups of importers, and individuals were required to request the approval of this bureau for all shipping space for both imports

and exports. The request had to contain data as to cargo, volume, tonnage, ports of shipment and discharge, etc., but no mention was made of rates. A supplemental notice published in the Journal Officiel of December 31, 1939, reminded importers and exporters that this requirement applied to all ocean shipments, whether on French or foreign ships. This control of shipping space might be operated to some extent to govern rates by refusing permission to ship on carriers which quoted rates at variance with the approved tariff.

Decree of April 24, 1940, published in the Journal Officiel of May 7, 1940, authorizes the Government to assume part of the ocean freight charges on certain goods consumed in France.

Article 1 provides that when the actual cost of transporting materials, products, or commodities of prime necessity for domestic consumption, on ships exploited by the State, is higher than the freight charges paid for transporting the goods, the difference in cost shall be borne by the State under a special subsidy account called "Ocean Transports-Exploitation of Ships.'

Article 2 provides that future decrees will establish the list of materials, products, or commodities of prime necessity to which this arrangement will apply.

Article 3 provides that the freight rates applicable to such products will be fixed by orders to be issued by the Ministers of Merchant Marine and Finance.

An explanatory preface states that the object of the decree is to preserve the internal price level, which is threatened by the high cost of chartering neutral ships to supplement the French merchant

marine.

The rates between France and United States ports fall into the two categories of east-bound and west-bound traffic discussed below.

EAST-BOUND TRAFFIC FROM THE UNITED STATES TO FRANCE

East-bound rates before the war were controlled by the East-bound Conference, which included the French Line, the United States Lines, and the America-France Line, all of which had to agree on rate changes. When freights began to rise at the outbreak of the war, the French Government required the French Line to keep the conference rates within bounds so as not to increase the cost of imports unduly. These rates on February 1, 1940, were 50 percent higher than the pre-war level. Besides the general control described above, the French Government was able to prescribe the methods and terms of shipment of the large volume of American exports to France purchased by its official agents and semi-official import organizations. Neutral ships sharing this traffic were required to apply the same rates as the French ships.

Early in the war neutral ships were chartered on the London freight market for exports from the United States to France, but the cost of chartering was so high that freight rates had to be fixed above those approved by the French Government. Consequently, the Franco-British economic control at London began to discourage the chartering of neutral ships on the London freight market for this trade.

WEST-BOUND TRAFFIC FROM FRANCE TO THE UNITED STATES

For this traffic, the pre-war conference rates were raised, and, like the rates on west-bound traffic, they were 50 percent higher on February 1, 1940, with the approval of the French Government. As there

PRICE CONTROL INCLUDES OCEAN FREIGHT RATES

Wat the erpusin off Japan's productive capacity factors hat the trasportation of major commodities are said to have acquired padmom spontang, and the badequacy of the transporand System as & wine bas been taken up as & condition that requires serious wnsteady from the standpomni of aqy sting commodity pass. The "Ordine Pist for Prise Control" which the Cabinet adopted in 1988 embodied a set of regulations for the control of transporŁNOR costs and of wages, business profis, house and land rentals as the mail constituent factors of the costs. Even before the China hostilities, great trasportation changes had risen substantially owing to a general improvement of the world shipping market. The market in the "Dear seas" especially maintained a bullish tone. The effect on commodity prices therefore received due consideration. On July 1, 1987. serer leading shipping companies, including the Nippon Yusen Kaista and the Osaka Shosen Kaisya, formed what was afterward called the Shipping Autonomous League to meet eventual develop‐ IDeLiS. Almost immediately the shipping business became increasingly difficult by reason of the outbreak of hostilities in China, the requisitioning of military transports, and the rise of shipping and other costs.

INTEREST CENTERS IN TRAMP FREIGHTS

Because of the subsidies paid by the Government, freight charges of regular lines cannot be changed without official approval, and the operation of the business generally through carteis or conferences requires contracts between shippers and ship operators which also prevent the free raising of rates in response to the market's movements. Tramp service, however, is not subjected to these conditions, and, as shipment contracts are on a short-term basis, the freight market rises