GATX Corporation is a railcar lessor that owns fleets in North America, Europe, and Asia. In addition, jointly with

Rolls-Royce Limited Rolls-Royce Limited was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his Crane ( ...

, it owns one of the largest aircraft spare engine lease portfolios. It is headquartered in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned 148,939 rail cars, including 83,959

tank car A tank car (International Union of Railways (UIC): tank wagon) or tanker is a type of railroad car (UIC: railway car) or rolling stock designed to transport liquid and gaseous commodity, commodities. History Timeline The following major event ...

s, 64,980 freight cars, and 645

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

s. Other major car types owned include covered hoppers, open-top

hopper car A hopper car () or hopper wagon () is a type of railroad freight car that has opening doors or gates on the underside or on the sides to discharge its cargo. They are used to transport loose solid bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, a ...

s, and gondolas. It primarily serves the

petroleum industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of hydrocarbon exploration, exploration, extraction of petroleum, extraction, oil refinery, refining, Petroleum transport, transportation (often by oil tankers ...

(29% of 2020 revenues),

chemical industry The chemical industry comprises the companies and other organizations that develop and produce industrial, specialty and other chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, the chemical industry converts raw materials ( oil, natural gas, air, ...

(22% of 2020 revenues),

food industry The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, ...

(11% of 2020 revenues),

mining industry Mining is the extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a la ...

(10% of 2020 revenues), and transportation industry (20% of 2020 revenues).

History

The company was founded as Atlantic Seaboard Dispatch in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, in 1898 by Max Epstein to ship beer in refrigerated railcars for Duquesne Brewing Company. In 1902, the company was renamed German-American Car Co. In 1916, it changed its name to General American Tank Car Corp. and became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

, and in 1933, it was renamed General American Transportation Corp. In 1949, the company worked with designer

Russel Wright Russel Wright (April 3, 1904 – December 21, 1976) was an American industrial designer. His best-selling ceramic dinnerware was credited with encouraging the general public to enjoy creative modern design at table with his many other ranges of fu ...

to develop "Meladur", a

melamine Melamine is an organic compound with the formula C3H6N6. This white solid is a trimer (chemistry), trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-Triazine, 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 66% nitrogen by mass, and its derivatives ha ...

dinnerware. Effective January 1, 2000, General American Transportation Corporation was renamed GATX Rail Corporation, a unit of GATX Corporation. In 2004, the company sold its technology-leasing unit to CIT Group for about $200 million in cash. In September 2013, the company sold its 37.5% interest in AAE Ahaus Alstätter Eisenbahn Cargo AG to its partner, AAE Ahaus Alstätter Eisenbahn, for €84.5 million. In March 2014, the company acquired the North American per diem boxcar fleet of GE Capital Rail Services, consisting of more than 18,500 boxcars. In November 2018, the company announced an agreement to acquire up to 3,100 railcars from ECN Capital for up to $229 million. In May 2020, the company sold American Steamship Company, its dry bulk vessel business, to Rand Logistics for $260 million. In December 2020, the company acquired Trifleet Leasing Holding B.V., the fourth largest global

tank container A tank container or tanktainer is an intermodal container for the transport of liquids, gases and powders as bulk cargo. It is built to the ISO standards, making it suitable for different modes of transportation; as such, it is also called an ISO ...

lessor.

Reporting marks

GATX's primary freight car

reporting mark A reporting mark is a code used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on certain rail transport networks. The code typically reflects the name or identifying number of the owner, lessee, or operator of the equip ...

s are: * GATX (for tank cars) * GACX (for general-service freight cars) * GGPX (for coal cars) * GIMX (for intermodal cars) * GPLX (for plastic pellet cars) * GMTX and LLPX (for locomotives) * GPFX (for pressure-differential cars) GATX also owns other marks including CGTX, GABX, GAEX, GCCX, GFSX, GOHX, GSCX, IPSX, and TRIX including for General American Marks Company and GATX Rail. Many GATX cars carry a large "GATX" logo in the upper corner of the cars regardless of the reporting mark they carry; this logo is applied for marketing reasons and does not have any operational significance.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1898 establishments in Illinois 1910s initial public offerings Companies based in Chicago Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Rolling stock leasing companies Transportation companies based in Illinois Transportation companies of the United States Companies in the S&P 400

History

Reporting marks

Further reading

References

External links