it was dissolved on 15 July 1940, thus paving the way for the establishment of Nortraship's New York office, which was located at 80 Broad Street, Manhattan. Øivind Lorentzen had planned for only a brief visit in New York, and in his absence, Ingolf Hysing Olsen, Norwegian representative in Britain for the Norwegian Shipowners Association, was the acting head in London. Thus new friction was created, as the leaders of the two main Nortraship offices did not co-operate well. It was so severe that the Minister of Supply and Shipping, Trygve Lie, had to forward it to the government for a formal resolution. On 25 October the Norwegian government stated that the two offices were "parallel enterprises, each working independently with its ships". This also resulted in a tally of ships; on 21 November 1940 London administered 570 ships while New York had 282 (whaling ships not included). Nortraship had a large fleet, and the expenses were considerable and so a currency strategy was necessary. It was formulated by Arne Sunde (who later would become Minister of Shipping) on 1 August 1940 and stated that expenses should be paid in sterling currencies, and use of US dollars was to be avoided. The reasons were the current currency situation and the anticipated situation after the war. In the autumn of 1940 Nortraship New York still had problems with "free ships", most urgently, those owned by Fred. Olsen & Co. The shipowner Thomas Olsen, residing in New York, insisted on managing them and argued that as the owner he was in the best position to do so. He was cautioned by Øivind Lorentzen, to no avail, and after Olsen wrote a letter to the government, Trygve Lie commented that Olsen's behaviour was "the kind that bordered on high treason". Olsen was not alone in his scepticism regarding Nortraship, and on 18 February 1941 the Norwegian Shipowners' Conference in America was established to secure Norwegian shipowners' interests outside Norway. Part of the scepticism was founded on the Norwegian government being Labour and thus possibly contemplating nationalisation of the shipping companies after the war. The Prime Minister rejected that suggestion, and in a cable in March 1941, he promised that all ships would be handed back to their owners as soon as possible when the war was over. The internal quarrels were still not settled, partly because Øivind Lorentzen had ships managed contrary to