Found it.
The troops sailed from Vancouver aboard the SS Awatea. She sailed with 12,000 cubic feet of empty cargo space because of cockups that prevented priority MT being loaded that was sitting in a Military Siding in Vancouver at the time.
Brand New MT had been ordered from both Ford and GM to be crated and delivered to Vancouver for loading, which had been done by both companies.
When the Winnipeg Grenadiers and Royal Rifles sailed on the Awatea, Brig. Lawson, their CO had been advised an American Freighter, the Don Jose, had been chartered to ship the MT to Hong Kong, and would be following them in a few days.
It was the Don Jose that redirected to Manila for some reason and the MT seized. Since it was all in crated mode,I doubt the Americans had the manpower or time to assemble much, if any of it, before being over run by the Japanese.
David
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