The safe conduct agreement gave Swedish shipowners some limited access to freight for their ships. For Sven Salén it was a huge relief. He had recently formed a company with banker Jacob Wallenberg and Helge Norlander to purchase seven small ships from a man called Andersson, an engineer in Karlshamn. The boats were cheap but also rather elderly.

In the northern winter of 1941/42, Sven Salén was finally forced to shut down operations because of the threat from mines. Ships inside the blockade were berthed in Sweden. Those outside the blockade were either in the Pacific or in Atlantic convoys.

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