800.8820/1107: Airgram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Chile ( Bowers )
A–717. With reference to the Embassy’s despatch no. 5979 of March 16, 194394 the target tonnage of 10,000 tons for Chile is not a maximum figure, but tonnage below which the War Shipping Administration will attempt not to fall. The actual movement has generally been in excess of the target.
[Page 169]The Embassy is correct in assuming that the War Shipping Administration established the target tonnage after a calculation of all tonnage available, foreign as well as national. The target tonnage for Chile does not include requirements of coal which have been, and will be, made without regard to the target.
The Department and War Shipping Administration are unable to reconcile the statistics of Chilean imports, as submitted by the Embassy, with the War Shipping Administration statistics of exports for similar months. Unfortunately the War Shipping Administration statistics show a combined figure of exports to Chile and Bolivia; this serves to make the discrepancy in figures even less understandable. The comparison is as follows:
| Month |
Embassy’s Report on Imports Into Chile from U.S. |
WSA Statistics
of U.S. Exports to Chile and Bolivia |
| Total Dry Cargo | ||
| 1942 | Metric Tons | Long Tons |
| July | 29,842 | 21,168 |
| August | 22,645 | 13,852 |
| September | 15,293 | 13,709 |
| October | 17,951 | 25,645 |
| November | 16,508 | 8,532 |
| December | 31,867 | 19,334 |
| 1943 | ||
| January | Not available | 10,275 |
| February | “ “ | 15,185 |
| March | “ “ | 19,100 |
Any further information that the Embassy can provide in explanation of the above discrepancies will be appreciated; specifically whether the Embassy’s figures include re-exports and in transit shipments. The War Shipping Administration especially requests the names, if possible, of the vessels which arrived in Chile carrying goods from the United States during the months shown above. The Embassy’s calculation of the south-bound tonnage available must not be considered as indicating potential availabilities for Chile in as much as the West Coast ships, including the Chilean Line, carry cargo also for Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia as well as Chile.
In connection with the issuance of Import Recommendations within a fixed forward estimate of target tonnage, the Department’s instruction no. 2860 of March 22, 194395 states that Recommendations may be issued to cover a volume equal to 125 percent of the quarterly target tonnage tentatively fixed for civilian requirements. Such an issuance of new orders, plus the backlog (see instruction no. 2860 of March 22, 1943) should provide adequate cargo for any shipments in excess of the target made as and when possible by War Shipping Administration, [Page 170] and should preclude the possibility of a cargo shortage. If, at the end of the second quarter, the conditions and prospects warrant, the Embassy will be instructed to inform the Chilean Government to issue a larger percentage of overage against the target tonnage.
For the strictly confidential information of the Embassy, and press reports notwithstanding, the forward prospects for commercial tonnage movement are not favorable and the Embassy should lose no opportunity quietly to urge the Chilean authorities to continue to perfect economic controls, distribution, and the internal allocation of commodities under the decentralization plan, so that if necessary the Chilean economy can be sustained on the basis of a target tonnage of 10,000 tons per month.