Dansk skibsfart 1870-1940, s. 31-70

enewal was cancelled and instead the company concentrated on expanding its
manufacturing Industry and commerce. Despite this there was nonetheless
room in the 1930's for a renewal and expansion ofthe fleet, so that in 1939 it was
bigger than that of D.F.D.S.
For A.P. Møller's shipping companies the 1920's and 1930's were a period of
rapid growth, and in 1939 the Maersk companies had a total of 178,000 gross
register tons. Tramp tråde was the main activity, but in 1928 the shipping
companies also went into line traffic with a route from the east coast ofthe USA
to the Far East via the Panama Canal, and the same year the companies bought
its first oil tanker.
Thej. Lauritzen shipping company had in 1939 a fleet totalling over 75,000
grt. Like so many other shipping companies It had started in the North Sea and
Baltic tråde, but from the middle ofthe 1930's It embarked on a traffic with refrigerator
ships and soon it was sailing fruit out of the Mediterranean and
Carribean.
Denmark's economic structure has never been conducive to a shipping tråde
based on the exportation of its own goods. Nor was it possible after 1918 to
count on the state subsidies which several of Denmark's competitors received.
That shipping nevertheless succeeded in maintaining its leading position in the
difficult period from 1870 to 1940 was primarily due to a number of dynamic
leaders and a well-qualified labour force.
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