flagged out.
Peace-time
enactment would thus run the danger of
bringing about the end it was intended to avoid. The Government does
not intend to introduce a Defence Register.
21
The Government could also obtain tonnage for defence purposes
by chartering through commercial markets (mainly in tension) and
from friendly neutrals during war. The latter would be likely to be
influenced by political and commercial
commercial factors (such as charter
rates and insurance cover) and the extent to which the NATO Alliance
could provide protection and
bunkers.
operational support, particularly
22 Apart from ΝΑΤΟ arrangements, the UK has since 1957 had
agreements with the Norwegian and Danish War Risks Associations to
provide re-insurance for
for their merchant ships against war risks.
Under these agreements the UK would have access to
amount of tonnage in war. These arrangements would in practice
apply only to ships that were not in the NATO pool.
substantial
23 Bilateral
lines-of-communication agreements exist between the
Ministry of Defence and the defence authorities in some other NATO
states to provide shipping to assist with the execution of certain
reinforcement plans.
24 The availability of prize tonnage would depend on the fortunes
of war; it is expected that it would be fairly small.
25 Summing up then, during tension the UK would have access
through the prerogative and also perhaps emergency legislation to
merchant shipping on UK and dependent territory registries and to
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