The Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) was a department of the British Government formed early in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

to control transportation policy and resources. It was formed by merging the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Transport, bringing responsibility for both shipping and land transport to a single department, and easing problems of co-ordination of transport in wartime. The MoWT was founded on 1 May 1941, when Lord Leathers was appointed Minister of War Transport. Following the general election of July 1945, Alfred Barnes was appointed Minister of War Transport, remaining in the post after the department was renamed the Ministry of Transport in April 1946.

Divisions

The jurisdiction of the MoWT covered all forms of transportation and it inherited numerous and varied responsibilities from its parent organisations. From the Ministry of Shipping these included: * Allocation of Tonnage Division, responsible for the provision of shipping, other than liners, but including tankers and other coastal craft. This division was headed by

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from 1942 to 1945. * Ship Management Division, responsible for the City Central Chartering Office, which chartered vessels on behalf of the government on the

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in London and abroad. * Coal Division, ensured the provision of bunkering facilities at home and abroad for the use of controlled merchant shipping. * Coasting and Short Sea Shipping Division, responsible for the control of shipping in home waters. * Commercial Services Division, responsible for reviewing the requirements of government departments needing to convey commodities essential for military, civil or industrial needs, and arranging tonnage provision. * Foreign Shipping Relations Division, responsible for negotiations for the use of foreign ships and policy towards foreign and neutral shipping. * General (Shipping) Division, responsible for war risks insurance, the tonnage replacement scheme and general shipping matters. * Liner Division, responsible for the operation of the

liner A low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) is a type of galactic nucleus that is defined by its spectral line emission. The spectra typically include line emission from weakly ionized or neutral atoms, such as O, O+, N+, and S+. ...

requisition scheme. * Sea Transport Division (in official Royal Navy sources known as the Sea Transport Department), responsible for all merchant shipping requirements of the armed forces, which gave it control of troop ships, supply ships, hospital ships, Fleet Auxiliaries including armed merchant cruisers, naval stores and munitions ships, rescue ships, ocean boarding vessels, and tugs. It also controlled the recruitment of civilian crewmen. * Ship Management Division, concerned with the management of ships owned, requisitioned or seized by the department through various ship owners. * Shipping Operations Control Division, responsible for the requisitioning, chartering and allocation of British merchant shipping; the reconciliation of import demands with shipping capacity; the acquisition and chartering of Allied and neutral vessels and the associated Shipping Agreements between the British and foreign Governments. The division was also responsible for co-ordination with the United States

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...

through the Ministry's British Merchant Shipping Mission, based in Washington D.C., and the Combined Shipping Adjustment Boards set up in London and Washington in 1942 to allow the UK and US authorities to provide the most effective use of their shipping resources in the transportation of goods, raw materials, and war materiel to the front line. Co-operation with Allied and other Governments was developed further towards the end of the war with the establishment of the United Maritime Authority. * Tanker Division, responsible for the transport of fuel oil, molasses,

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and palm oil by tanker and for liaison with other concerned government departments. * War Risks Insurance Office, responsible for the management of the scheme of

marine insurance Marine insurance covers the physical loss or damage of ships, cargo, terminals, and any transport by which the property is transferred, acquired, or held between the points of origin and the final destination. Cargo insurance is the sub-branch o ...

against losses of merchant ships on government service. In 1942 new divisions were created responsible for ship repairs and concerned with statistics and intelligence. After the end of the war in May 1945, those divisions not dissolved or absorbed by other divisions, gradually assumed duties in connection with peacetime shipping policy. From the Ministry of Transport it inherited responsibility for all of Britain's roads, railways, canals and ports, and included: * Railways Division, responsible for processing and publicising instructions and disseminating information, to ensure effective co-operation between the various railway companies, whose senior officials were formed into the

Railway Executive Committee The Railway Executive Committee (REC) was a government body which controlled the operation of Britain's railways during World War I and World War II. It should not be confused with the Railway Executive which was a division of the British Transp ...

. * Railway Inspectorate, responsible for safety provisions, track inspection, accident investigation, and operating system inspection of the railways. * Road Transport Division, responsible for the licensing of

public service vehicle A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for ...

s and their drivers, and

goods vehicle A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

s; the regulation of the construction, lighting and use of motor vehicles; speed limits; vehicle registration and taxation; and compulsory insurance. * Highways Division, responsible for the safety of road transport, private vehicle registration and licensing, traffic safety and traffic control. * Highway Engineering Division, responsible for road building and repairs. * Road Haulage Organisation, responsible for the voluntary agreements made with haulage operators to economize in the use of fuel and rubber, to maintain a fleet of long distance vehicles, and to ensure the most effective use of road transport resources. * Marine Departments, responsible for docks, ports and harbours. *

His Majesty's Coastguard His Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG) is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible, through the Secretary of State for Transport to Parliament, for the initiation and co-ordination of all maritime search and rescue (SAR) within the ...

was under the control of the

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from May 1940, but was placed under MoWT control in October 1945. The

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was an

Anglo-American Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...

agency that had complete control over the flow of civilian supplies to the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

during the war. It was created by the British in April 1941 starting in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, Palestine and Syria, reporting to the Ministry of War Transport.

References

* * {{cite book , last=Savage , first=Christopher I. , series=History of the Second World War: United Kingdom Civil Series , date=1957 , title=Inland Transport , location=London , publisher=HMSO 1941 establishments in the United Kingdom 1946 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Transport in the United Kingdom Defunct departments of the Government of the United Kingdom Defunct transport organisations based in the United Kingdom Transport in World War II

Divisions

See also

References