862.852/52
The Consul General at Rio de Janeiro ( Burdett ) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 16.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the report from this office dated October 6, 1939, entitled “Method of Transferring Foreign Vessels to the Brazilian Flag”,33 and to inform the Department that it has now been ascertained, from a reliable source, that the Hamburg–South American Line at Rio de Janeiro has taken steps to transfer certain German vessels to the Brazilian flag.
It appears that about two months ago, a Brazilian born in the State of Santa Catharina of German parents, whose name is unknown at present, registered with the Brazilian authorities as the active partner of a firm organized under Article 231 of Decree No. 220–A of July 3, 1935. This man is said to have provided 10 contos of the capital for the new firm, while 1,000 contos was obtained from the Rio de Janeiro branch of the Hamburg–South American Line, acting as the inactive partner. The new firm has applied to the Maritime Administrative Tribunal for permission to effect the registry under the Brazilian flag of certain ships belonging to it, and it is understood that this permission will probably be refused.
It may be noted that three of the four German ships now at this port (the Santos, La Coruña and Bahia Blanca) belong to the Hamburg–South [Page 82] American Line. Further details will be made available to the Department as soon as practicable.
Respectfully yours,
- Not found in Department files.↩