ABSTRACT

Competition in the South American trade recovered quickly after 1945 and within a very few years it intensified. Of much concern to British interests was the post-war recovery of competitive European lines, especially those of Germany and Italy, with benefit of substantial financial assistance. The USA dominated the world economy at the end of the Second World War. Its position enabled it to control post-war economic recovery: the Marshall Plan launched in 1947 was a four-year aid programme for Europe, greatly profitable to the USA, but with the almost total exclusion of South American countries, to their considerable unhappiness. The concern of the directors in the latter stages of the war was to ensure that Royal Mail recovered its strong pre-war position in the South Atlantic trades at the end of hostilities, and their focus was on the inevitable recovery of the German and Italian lines, always powerful competitors.