Seatrain Lines, officially the Over-Seas Shipping Company, was a shipping and transportation company conducting operations in the Americas and trans-Pacific regions. Seatrain Lines began

intermodal freight transport Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation (e.g., rail, ship, aircraft, and truck), without any handling of the freight itself when changing ...

in December 1928 by transporting entire loaded railroad freight cars between the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. The specially designed ship ''Seatrain'', built in England, was followed in 1932 by two larger ships built in the United States and in 1939 by two additional ships. By the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the company was operating five ships that became important in the war effort and basis for the design of fifty new ships for military use. A series of business setbacks amid the rise of containerized shipping left the company in perilous financial condition in the 1970s. Seatrain Lines shut down in 1981 after filing for bankruptcy.

History

Seatrain Lines, the operating name for the Over-Seas Shipping Company, began

intermodal container An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, or a freight container, (or simply "container") is a large metal crate designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different Mode ...

shipping by using entire loaded rail cars between ports in the United States and

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson,

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

and later renamed ''Seatrain New Orleans'', was capable of carrying 95 fully loaded rail cars. The loading system consisted of a cradle that fit into a depression on the

pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...

. Railway lines running on the pier continued onto the cradle and past it. Rail cars were rolled onto the cradle one at a time, and then lifted by a large overhead crane. The system was very similar to modern

loading systems, with the exception that it lifted the load from the bottom rather than the top. The crane rolled the cradle over a large hatch slightly longer than the cradle and as wide as the ship. The cradle could be lowered to match one of four internal decks (including the top surface) and moved side-to-side to match one of four parallel sets of rails on the decks. Once positioned, the car was pulled off by steam driven

winch A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension (physics), tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable"). In its simplest form, it consists of a Bobb ...

es. During the voyage of the ship the cars were secured by chocking the wheels and using jacks and turnbuckles at each corner of the car. Seatrain Method

The company built two larger specialized ships in 1932, ''Seatrain New York'' and ''Seatrain Havana'' with greater rail car capacity. This service was the forerunner of modern container shipping inaugurated in the late 1950s by other shipping companies. Seatrain was initially located in Hoboken,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, and owned the Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad that connected its facility to other railroads. In 1939 two more ships were under construction at Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Chester, Pennsylvania, with hulls 191 and 192 becoming and respectively. In 1944, the five vessels were noted as being unique in the commercial shipping world as described in a decision by the Comptroller General of the United States concerning issues in setting wartime charter rates. The decision noted "these were the only vessels of this type in existence, there was no market for such vessels" and that the "inherent character and design of these vessels which reduces the cost of loading and discharging cargo to a nominal amount per ton, and which by the use of mechanical devices, reduces the time for discharging and reloading to a few hours as compared to a few days" for ordinary ships. Those unique characteristics, though making setting a "market value" difficult, made the ships of particular utility for wartime transport of large, assembled vehicles and machines. The original 1928 shipment aboard ''Seatrain'' caused a labor issue that foretold similar issues later with

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

s when Cuban stevedores demanded that they not only unload the rail cars from the ship but unload and repack the rail car contents before turning the cars over to Cuban railways. Seatrain reached agreement with labor but the issue was a precursor to similar labor problems with containers in other ports. In 1951 Seatrain Lines returned to Sun Shipbuilding for two additional railcar carriers, the ''Seatrain Georgia'' and ''Seatrain Louisiana''. That year Seatrain also ceased operations to and from Cuba, and renamed its ship ''Seatrain Havana'' to ''Seatrain Savannah'' to reflect the suspension of service. In 1953 Seatrain sold its operating authority to trade between the US and Cuba to the West India Fruit and Steamship Company, along with its first ship, the ''Seatrain New Orleans'', which was renamed ''Sea Level''. In 1958, Seatrain Lines introduced its Seamobile intermodal cargo container service, carrying the containers on its railcar-carrying ships between Seatrain's Edgewater terminal on the New Jersey side of New York harbor, and Texas City (Houston). In 1959, Sea-Land Service founder Malcom McLean, a pioneer and leader in intermodal marine-rail-highway containerization, attempted to buy the competing Seatrain Lines, but his offer was rejected. In 1963 Seatrain tried to expand its ship/rail operations with a New York to

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

run, but this service was severely hampered by the inadequacies of rail transport in Puerto Rico. In addition, Sea-Land Service had introduced containerized service to Puerto Rico in 1958. To compete, Seatrain Lines discontinued the transport of rail cars to Puerto Rico and utilized containers instead. Transeastern Associates, a firm created in the early 1950s by Joseph Kahn and Howard Pack, bought Seatrain Lines in 1965 for $8.5 million. At the time of their purchase, Seatrain operated between New York and ports in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

Texas City, Texas Texas City is a city in Galveston County, Texas, United States, on the southwest shoreline of Galveston Bay. Texas City is a deepwater port on Texas's Gulf Coast, as well as a petroleum-refining and petrochemical-manufacturing center. The popu ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

and Puerto Rico. Transeastern and its subsidiary Hudson Waterways Corp. were folded into Seatrain in September 1966. At the time, Seatrain had lost more than $500,000 in a four-month period before the merger, while Transeastern's fleet had netted nearly $7 million in a ten-month period. In 1966, Seatrain began a program to reinvent itself by replacing its aging and obsolete railcar-carrying ships with a fleet of multi-purpose heavy sea-lift ships and cellular

container ships A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

. All would be heavily rebuilt from surplus

era type

T2 tanker The T2 tanker, or T2, was a class of oil tanker constructed and produced in large numbers in the United States during World War II. Only the T3 tankers were larger "navy oilers" of the period. Some 533 T2s were built between 1940 and the end of 1 ...

s and C4 transports obtained by Hudson Waterways through the Maritime Administration (MARAD) ship exchange program. The multi-purpose ships were mainly intended for charter to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) in support of overseas U.S. military operations, particularly the war in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, while the container ships would allow Seatrain to containerize its commercial cargo operations. ''Seatrain Puerto Rico'' was the first of the heavy sea-lift ships completed in 1966, followed by ''Seatrain Carolina'', ''Seatrain Florida'', ''Seatrain Maryland'', ''Seatrain Maine'', ''Seatrain Washington'' and ''Seatrain Ohio'' in 1967. The ships were equipped with two cranes for self-loading and unloading and could carry general bulk and palletized cargo,

intermodal containers An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, or a freight container, (or simply "container") is a large metal crate designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different mod ...

, and vehicles. The lower and main decks also had embedded rails to allow for carrying railcars, although there is no evidence that any of the ships were ever employed as railcar carriers ''per se'', except for transporting some narrow-gauge rolling stock to Vietnam, in which case the standard-gauge rails could not be used. Elevated spar decks provided additional carrying space for vehicles, aircraft and containers. ''Seatrain San Juan'' was the first of the container ships to be completed in 1967, followed by ''Seatrain Delaware''. The container ships were employed in coastwise U.S. East Coast and Puerto Rico service. In 1969, the ''Transchamplain'', ''Transontario'', ''Transoneida'', ''Transhawaii'', ''Transidaho'', ''Transindiana'' and ''Transoregon'' were added, allowing Seatrain to expand domestic container service to the U.S. West Coast and Hawaii, and to begin transatlantic service between the U.S. East Coast and the U.K and Northern Europe. In 1971, Seatrain placed two new high-speed

gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...

-powered container ships in service on its transatlantic route, the German-built ''Euroliner'' and ''Eurofreighter''. They were joined in 1972 by the ''Asialiner'' and ''Asiafreighter'' in anticipation of expanding its transpacific service. On August 17 of that year Seatrain, in partnership with the

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals, the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroads, also established a pioneering coast-to-coast land bridge rail container service between its U.S. East and West coast terminals, cutting up to 10 days off the transit time between Europe and the U.S. West coast and Asia. In 1974, Matson Navigation Company took over Seatrain's West Coast–Hawaii service, leasing the ''Transoneida'', ''Transchamplain'' and ''Transontario'' to handle the traffic. In 1975, Navieras de Puerto Rico, also known as the Puerto Rico Maritime Shipping Authority, took over Seatrain's operations to and in Puerto Rico, along with the ships ''Transhawaii'', ''Transidaho'' and ''Transoregon'', which became Navieras' ''Aguadilla'', ''Carolina'', and ''Mayaguez'' (often confused with the Sea-Land Service ship of the same name involved in the

Mayaguez incident The ''Mayaguez'' incident took place between Democratic Kampuchea, Kampuchea (now Cambodia) and the United States from 12 to 15 May 1975, less than a month after the Khmer Rouge took Fall of Phnom Penh, control of the capital Phnom Penh ousting ...

). These two changes left Seatrain to concentrate on its international transatlantic and transpacific operations and replace its original converted container ships, mainly with a fleet of chartered ships, plus the new-builds ''Seatrain Independence'', ''Seatrain Bennington'', ''Seatrain Chesapeake'', ''Seatrain Oriskany'', ''Seatrain Saratoga'', and ''Seatrain Yorktown''. Struggling to remain solvent in the wake of its disastrous excursion into shipbuilding, a dramatic increase in fuel costs following the

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) is an organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing and oil-dependent countries in order to collectively influence the global oil market and maximize Profit (eco ...

(OPEC) price increases of the mid-1970s, and the rapid replacement and expansion of its fleet in the late 1970s, and a deepening business downturn, in 1980 Seatrain began divesting its chartered tonnage and cut its rates in the North Atlantic lane to attract more traffic. This set off a rate war which only added to the losses. In August Seatrain sold its transatlantic operations and the ships ''Seatrain Bennington'' and ''Seatrain Saratoga'' to Trans Freight Lines, and then concentrated on restructuring its Pacific operations under the name Seatrain Pacific Service, or Seapac.

Bankruptcy

Seatrain filed for protection on February 11, 1981, under

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Seatrain's creditors filed $801.25 million in claims but the amount was reduced by negotiation. The final figure was in the area of $515 million. Seatrain's largest unsecured creditors were the pension and welfare fund of the New York Shipping Association-International Longshoremen's Association, the US Economic Development Administration, and

Union Carbide Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) is an American chemical company headquartered in Seadrift, Texas. It has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company since 2001. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more f ...

Corporation. Seatrain's remaining Pacific operations and assets were sold to Tung Chao Yung's C.Y. Tung Group and Seapac was ultimately merged into Tung's Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), with its remaining ships going to OOCL and Dart Container Line.

Ship usage in World War II and Vietnam

The five Seatrain vessels were considered by military planners in 1941 as the need for specialized ships capable of handling fully assembled aircraft, tanks, locomotives, and other vehicles was foreseen. Shortly after the entry of the United States into the war the Army arranged for the construction of fifty C-4 freighters modelled on the Seatrain concept. The five ships were requisitioned with title passing to the

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...

(WSA) for two vessels in July 1941, another in February 1942 and the remaining two in May 1942. Under a law effective 24 March 1943 the Administrator of WSA was authorized to return the vessels to the original owners as long as their use satisfies wartime needs. This was done, though there was difficulty in establishing fair rates of charter for unique vessels. ''Seatrain Texas'' and ''Seatrain New Jersey'', after brief service with the Navy as USS ''Lakehurst'', became Army transports specializing in such heavy lift, partly for tanks but also railway locomotives. ''Seatrain New York'' continued service with the Navy as until decommissioned and returned to the line 24 January 1946. Just prior to being converted to U.S. Navy use as the USS ''Lakehurst'', the already greatly battle scarred ''Seatrain New Jersey'' was described as “Notorious for being shot up more than any other U.S. merchant ship. Had many symbols of rockets and mortar bombs painted on her bridge wing, each denoting an attack.” ''Seatrain Havana'', acquired by Navy on a bareboat basis from the Maritime Commission, was commissioned as USS ''Hammondsport'' (APV-2) 11 December 1941 until 7 March 1946. Seatrain Lakehurst after discharging tanks at Safi North Africa

Seatrain Lakehurst after discharging tanks at Safi North Africa

The designed capability to handle such large and heavy cargo as loaded rail cars made the ships critical in transport of assembled military equipment. Under command of Cmdr. Harold "H.J." McNulty (USN), ''Seatrain New Jersey'' as USS ''Lakehurst'' (one

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or service period. T ...

WWII) participated in the Allied invasion of North Africa as part of the fleet's Southern Attack Group. She after made multiple additional voyages from United States ports to North Africa with Army cargo and occasionally troops before transfer to the Army to continue in similar service. ''Seatrain New York'' as USS ''Kitty Hawk'' operated in the Pacific mainly as an aircraft transport. ''Kitty Hawk'' rushed the 3d Marine Defense Battalion and planes of Marine Air Groups to Midway Island when intelligence indicated a Japanese attack there. The ship transported aircraft and supplies to support the campaigns in the Southwest Pacific for the remainder of the war. ''Hammondsport'', the former ''Seatrain Havana'', transported

PT boats A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, and it was valued for its maneuverability and speed. However, PT boats were hamper ...

from New York to San Francisco and then remained in the Pacific largely transporting assembled aircraft as in the case of ''Kitty Hawk''. USAT Seatrain Texas army report

An early extraordinary demand came when, responding to an urgent British request on July 13, 1942 for tanks and artillery to counter Rommel after the fall of Tobruk, a convoy of six fast freighters was loaded at the New York Port of Embarkation (NYPOE) for Egypt with 300 medium tanks, 100 tank destroyers, and about 13,000 tons of ammunition. Fifty-two tanks, eighteen self-propelled guns and other supplies were lost when was sunk and NYPOE located replacement armor and ammunition, loaded and dispatched ''Seatrain Texas'' within forty-eight hours to sail unescorted, taking 18 days to

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, until joined by a

Free French Free France () was a resistance government claiming to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third French Republic, Third Republic during World War II. Led by General , Free France was established as a gover ...

escort at

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

as escort as far as

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

. ''Seatrain Texas'', again sailing unescorted and under the British code name "Treasure Ship," arrived at Port Taufiq on 2 September where the fully assembled tanks were unloaded and operational on 23 October at the Battle of El Alamein. The ship remained in Army service as USAT Seatrain Texas until redelivered to the line on 23 May 1946. ''Seatrain New Orleans'', the original Seatrain ship, was transferred to the

(WSA) on 21 May 1942 and operated until 6 June 1946 by Seatrain Management Corporation as agent for WSA. Several Seatrain ships were employed in support of the U.S. war effort in Vietnam. Seatrain's seven multi-purpose heavy sea-lift ships were specifically intended for charter to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS), and several if not all of the ships carried material and equipment to Vietnam. In addition, at least three of Seatrain's aging railcar carriers were also chartered to MSTS for carrying supplies and material to the theater, often traveling up the Nha Be River to Saigon to unload, where they were sometimes exposed to hostile action. ''Seatrain Texas'' was damaged by a floating mine in December 1967, while ''Seatrain New Jersey'' was hit by direct fire on multiple occasions. After the end of the conflict Seatrain's two newest railcar carriers and all seven sea-lift ships were laid up in the

National Defense Reserve Fleet The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of Ship, ships of the United States, mostly Merchant ship, merchant vessels, that have been Reserve fleet, mothballed but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during nationa ...

(NDRF), with some of them periodically reactivated for Reforger exercises to transport military vehicles and equipment to Germany. In 1990 ''Seatrain Washington'' and ''Seatrain Maine'' were reactivated one last time in support of the Persian Gulf War.

Seatrain Shipbuilding

In 1967, Seatrain Lines announced it would establish a new shipyard inside the

Brooklyn Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York (state), New York, U.S. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a se ...

in New York. Seatrain Shipbuilding was established in 1968 and signed a lease at Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1969. Seatrain Lines had no shipbuilding experience but planned to build and charter out 5 VLCC's and 7 container ships for themselves. Seatrain Shipbuilding built 4 VLCC's, 8 barges, and one Ice Breaker Barge. They started work on the burned out hull of the ''Sea Witch'' to turn into a

chemical tanker A chemical tanker is a type of tanker (ship), tanker ship designed to transport chemicals in bulk. As defined in MARPOL Annex II, chemical tanker means a ship constructed or adapted for carrying in bulk any liquid product listed in chapter 17 o ...

(which was later finished at Newport News). The U.S. federal government, by way of the

Economic Development Administration The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides grants and technical assistance to economically distressed communities in order to generate new employment, help retain exis ...

of the

United States Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business and governmental decision making, establishing industrial standards, catalyzing econ ...

, advanced Seatrain $5 million in direct loans and guaranteed 90% of $82 million in loans from Chase Manhattan Bank. Seatrain Lines injected $38 million of its own money into the project. The union chosen to represent the shipyard production workers was the United Industrial Workers of North America. Seatrain built four 220,000-ton Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC)

supertanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cr ...

s, eight barges, one ice breaker barge and two

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their ...

(Ro-Ro) ferries. One of the Ro-Ro ferries was never finished and was scrapped. Seatrain Shipbuilding also had a contract to rebuild the burned out hull of the '' Sea Witch'' into a

. For all four supertankers, Seatrain arranged for various subsidiaries to purchase

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

s from Transamerica Corporation subsidiary Delaval for the ships' propulsion systems. The turbines for the first three supertankers turned out to be defective; the turbines on the fourth supertanker did not repeat those defects but still malfunctioned on the maiden voyage because the astern pressure valve had been installed backward. The resulting

product liability Product liability is the area of law in which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers, and others who make products available to the public are held responsible for the injuries those products cause. Although the word "product" has ...

lawsuit went up to the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

in 1986, which unanimously ruled against Seatrain. On January 20, 1975, Seatrain Shipbuilding started to lay off half of its 3,200 workers for an indefinite period of time. A few days later, the rest of the shipbuilders would receive their layoff notices, as well. The mass layoff was due to President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...

's pocket veto of the cargo preference bill. Twenty of the largest shipyards in the U.S. would experience similar layoffs. The cargo preference bill would have required over time 20% of all the oil transported into the U.S. be transported on U.S. Flagged Tankers. President Ford called the bill inflationary. The cost of a gallon of gas would slowly rise by 20 cents over a few years. A few weeks later President Ford called for a $4 per 42-gallon barrel tax on imported oil. This would have increased the cost of gasoline and heating oil derived from imported crude by $0.10 per gallon. New England complained people would no longer be able to afford heating oil. The $4 tax went nowhere.

Containerization

Containerization Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers, or International Organization for Standardization, ISO containers). Containerization, also referred as container stuf ...

allowed tremendous cost saving versus

break bulk cargo In shipping, break-bulk, breakbulk, or break bulk cargo, also called general cargo, are goods that are stowed on board ships in individually counted units. Traditionally, the large numbers of items are recorded on distinct bill of lading, bil ...

, where each piece of cargo had to be loaded and unloaded individually. Malcom McLean, who founded the pioneer container line Sea-Land Service in 1956, conceived the concept of containerization while sitting in his truck at the port waiting for a ship to be unloaded. Simply put, his idea was to separate the truck's "box" from its chassis and wheels and load the entire "box" with its cargo inside onto the ship, thus speeding up loading and unloading of ships. It would also dramatically increase ship productivity by reducing ship idle time, and reduce damage and pilferage of cargo at the same time. The key to the container revolution was standardized containers which could be stacked several high in the holds and on top of the hatch covers of a ship. The containers were relatively large since costs tend to be per container and not per tonne, and the dimensions were initially chosen to suit highway limits and rail bridges and tunnels; container sizes have since grown taller which has created problems with some smaller tunnels. Seatrain Lines first began handling intermodal containers in 1958 when it introduced its Seamobile container service.Railway Age March 30, 1958 pp. 16–17 These first proprietary containers were 27 feet long, a size unique to Seatrain (and later to Matson when that line took over Seatrain's operations in Hawaii). Seatrain carried its containers on rail dollies on the lower decks of its equally unique railcar carrier ships and stacked two-high on the top deck. Seatrain began using 40 foot containers in the early 1960s, but they were of another proprietary design favored by the

Missouri Pacific The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

and

Baltimore and Ohio The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 until 1987, when it was merged into the Chessi ...

railroads. Seatrain began using standard

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

-type 40 foot containers when the line placed its first cellular container ships in service in 1967, although it continued to use the 27 foot size in its Hawaiian service.

In popular culture

In the 1971 '' Hawaii Five-O'' episode "For a Million, Why Not?", the means of transport out of Hawaii for a stolen armored truck was a Seatrain container. In the 1972 Hawaii Five-O episode "Death Wish on Tantalus Mountain" , the means of transport to Hawaii for a race car was a Seatrain container.

References

Sources

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External links

"Salt Water Rail Road" ''Popular Mechanics'', October 1947

National Register Eligibility Assessment Vessel: SS ''Ohio'', ex-''Seatrain Ohio''
(Photos, description and analysis of historic significance—declined for the late 1960s ship.) {{Commonscat Transport companies established in 1929 Defunct companies based in New York City Container shipping companies of the United States Defunct shipping companies of the United States Transport companies disestablished in 1981 Companies that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1981 1929 establishments in New York (state) 1981 disestablishments in New York (state) Container shipping companies