World War Il

In 1938 the shipping company established its own headquarters in New York for the finter-American trade and one of the shipping company's trusted employees prepared himself to leave Denmark to take over the management of the New York office. The shipping company anticipated failing communications between Denmark and overseas countries during a possible war and this judgment proved correct in September 1939. The trusted employee left for New York in September 1939 to take over the management of the New York office and immediately established an excellent co-operation with Wessel, Duval & Co. who had been the shipping company's agents for years. The office was ready at a moment's notice to take over the responsibility for all vessels outside the control of the head office in a possible critical situation. The shipping company lost two vessels, CANADIAN REEFER and BRITTA, before the occupation of Denmark on 9 April 1940.

On the date of the German occupation of Denmark most of the fleet was occupied on distant voyages. Some of them remained at ports of loading and discharge, others called at ports of refuge, but after the

                   Under U.S. control: AUSTRALIAN REEFER, AFRICAN REEFER, JONNA, MARIA, PAULA TANJA JUTTA, LILIAN, NANCY

                   Under Britisk control: CHILEAN REEFER, ERNA, RANDA, NORA, MARNA, SESSA, LILLIAN

                   Under French control: BETTA, STELLA, ANNA, ULLA, DAGMAR, ELSE, HELENE

Under Uruguayan control: LAURA

Under Chilean control: FRIDA, SELMA,  LAILA, HELGA, LOTTA

Under Argentine control: INDIAN REEFER, AMERICAN REEFER, BRAZILIAN REEFER, ARGENTINIAN REEFER, JELVA LAU,

INGER LAU, NERMA LAU, KATJA LAU, HEDDA LAU, NINNA LAU, ANNA LAU, LOTTA LAU.

Under German control: HELENE, BETTA, STELLA

In Brazil: EGYPTIAN REEFER

In Spain: GRETE, RØMØ, training vessel, LINDA (later in Greenland service under Danish flag chartered by the Danish Government with port of                       registry at Godthaab, Greenland)•

 Out of a fleet consisting of 47 vessels totalling 1 12,124 dwt., 30 vessels were at the disposal of the Allies and other nations. As regards the vessels under French control, ANNA was re-transferred to Danish Registry at Bordeaux in 1941 and NANCY which escaped from German control by calling at Lisbon was re-transferred to Danish Registry in 1942. The vessel left Lisbon in November 1943 to place herself under Allied control. ELSE was sunk in November 1942 at Casablanca when U.S. troops occupied that port, and LILIAN was again taken over by England in early June 1940. Of the other vessels transferred to French flag, HELENE was returned to Danish Registry in 1941 after having been taken over by the Germans in 1940, and BETTA and STELLA were seized by the Germans at Marseilles in 1942. BETTA stranded off Valencia, Spain, in 1943 while under the German flag and STELLA was lost under the German flag in 1943.

The five vessels in Chile were seized by the Chilean Government in the early part of 1941 under a Chilean decree according to which the Chilean Government engaged itself to redeliver the vessels at the end of the war in Europa. The vessels laid up in Argentina were sold by contract in 1942 to the Argentine Government with right of repurchase. following vessels: JELVA LAU, INGER LAU, NERMA LAU, KATJA LAU, HEDDA LAU, NINNA LAU, ANNA LAU, LOTTA LAU and ARGENTINEAN REEFER.

As a result of the abnormal circumstances and particularly in consequence of the deplorable reduction of the fleet, it was considered necessary to centralise the shipping business and to gather the remaining vessels in a single company and so on 1 April 1944 Ocean look over the remaining vessels belonging to Vesterhavet with the exception of the training vessels.

After the reorganisation, the company Rederiet Ocean A/S was exclusively a shipping company whereas Dampskibsselskabet Vesterhavet A/S was converted into a holding company. J. Lauritzen was still the managing owner of both companies