This series consists of correspondence and papers of the Directorate of Shipping in Port of the Ministry of Shipping, and the Port and Transit Control organisation of the Ministries of Transport and War Transport.
The series also contains papers of overseas Ministry of War Transport Representatives and minutes of meetings of the Port and Transit Standing and Advisory Committees, 1937 to 1940; the Central Transport Committee, 1941 to 1948, the Overseas Port and Transit Committee, 1941 to 1945, Regional Port Directors, 1942 to 1944, the North African Shipping Board, 1942 to 1943, and its successor, the Mediterranean Shipping Board, 1943 to 1946, and various other committees.
Following the end of the second world war and the winding-up of the Port and Transit Organization, the PT series of files, in which the bulk of the papers in this series are registered, was continued for records arising from certain of the Ministry of Transport's functions in relation to the peace-time operation of ports, docks, canals, piers and harbours.
Subjects include: labour and working conditions, development schemes, finance, legislation and byelaws, inquiries into working methods and port facilities and the setting-up of a warning system following the East Coast floods of 1953.