GATX Corporation is a railcar lessor that owns fleets in North America, Europe, and Asia. In addition, jointly with
Rolls-Royce Limited, it owns one of the largest aircraft spare engine lease portfolios. It is headquartered in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. 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) is a type of railroad car (UIC: railway car) or rolling stock designed to transport liquid and gaseous commodities.
History
Timeline
The following major events occurred in ...
s, 64,980
freight cars, and 645
locomotive
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...
s. Other major car types owned include
covered hopper
A covered hopper is a self-clearing enclosed railroad freight car with fixed roof, sides, and ends with openings for loading through the roof and bottom openings for unloading. Covered hopper cars are designed for carrying dry bulk loads, varying ...
s, open-top
hopper cars, and
gondolas. It primarily serves the
petroleum industry
The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The larg ...
(29% of 2020 revenues),
chemical industry
The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials ( oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products. ...
(22% of 2020 revenues),
food industry (11% of 2020 revenues),
mining industry
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
(10% of 2020 revenues), and
transportation industry (20% of 2020 revenues).
[
]
History
The company was founded as Atlantic Seaboard Dispatch in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
in 1898 by Max Epstein to ship beer in refrigerated railcars for Duquesne Brewing Company
The Duquesne Brewing Company was a major brewery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from its founding in 1899 until its dissolution in 1972. The brand was revived under the name Duquesne Brewing Company in 2008, in order to re-establish the beer in West ...
.public company
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...
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 investme ...
, 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 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 lessor.
Reporting marks
GATX's primary freight car marks 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 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