The Koninklijke Shell gave British shipyards orders for building 6-12,000 tons tankers.(1)
Note
1. This tem was confirmed by the newspapers Limburger koerier, Het nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië, De Sumatra Post and the De Tribune dated 18 March and the Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, Nieuwsblad van Friesland and the Het Vaderland evening edition dated 17 March 1937. The newspaper De Tribune dated 20 March and the evening edition of the Algemeen Handelsblad dated 17 March reported that these tankers (each 2) were to build by Harland and Wolff Ltd. at Belfast, Hawthorn Leslie and Co. Ltd. At Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Lithgows Ltd. at Port Glasgow. The tankers were similar to the 3 build by the Dutch yard of the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappy. It was yet unknown how they would be flagged Dutch or British.
