Concern of the United States over implementation of the 1944 Agreement on Principles Having Reference to the Continuance of Coordinated Control of Merchant Shipping1

[In 1945 American interest in an effective implementation of the Agreement on Principles Having Reference to the Continuance of Coordinated Control of Merchant Shipping, concluded at London on August 5, 1944, among the Governments of the United States, Belgium, Canada, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and the United Kingdom, was expressed through discussions with certain governments looking to their adherence to the agreement. Accessions were accepted and became effective as follows: Australia, February 19; France, March 15; India, April 9; New Zealand, May 24; South Africa, May 24; Brazil, June 1; Sweden, June 8; Chile, July 27; Denmark, August 8; Yugoslavia, October 10. Adherence of the Soviet Union, persistently sought, was never obtained.

For statement by the Department regarding the discontinuance of shipping controls effective March 2, 1946, together with text of a temporary agreement (expiring October 31, 1946) relating to the preservation on a voluntary basis of such controls as were deemed necessary to meet the ocean-transportation requirements of the relief and rehabilitation needs of liberated areas, see Department of State Bulletin, March 24, 1946, pages 487 ff.]