maritime freight

FreightWaves Classics/Infrastructure: Port of Greater Baton Rouge is a Top 10 US port

An aerial view of part of the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. (Photo: portgbr.com)

Overview

Located in Port Allen, Louisiana, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge is among the Top 10 largest ports in the United States in terms of tonnage shipped. (It ranked seventh in 2020.) It is the northernmost port on the Mississippi River capable of handling Panamax ships.

It is both a deep water (45 feet) and a shallow draft port, providing excellent accessibility to ocean trade lanes to and from Latin America, Europe and the Far East. The port also provides access to America’s heartland via...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsinfrastructure-port-of-greater-baton-rouge-is-a-top-10-us-port

FreightWaves Classics/Fallen Flags: AGWI Lines ships transported cargo and passengers

This postcard shows the SS Orizaba/Siboney, sister ships of the Ward Line. (Image: hipstamp.com)

There are many people interested in former transportation companies, whether they were trucking companies, railroads, airlines or ocean lines. These companies are called “fallen flags,” and the term describes companies whose corporate names have been dissolved through merger, bankruptcy or liquidation.

Today’s FreightWaves Classics profiles another fallen flag in the ocean shipping industry – the AGWI Lines. “AGWI” was an acronym for the Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Lines. 

This was one of the ships owned in 1907 by the Consolidated Steamship Company. (Photo: Lubec Historical Society)This was...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsfallen-flags-agwi-lines-ships-transported-cargo-and-passengers

FreightWaves Classics/Fallen Flags: Luckenbach Steamship Company was successful for nearly 125 years

The Edgar F. Luckenbach. (Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command)

The Luckenbach Steamship Company was a long-lived and successful U.S. shipping company. It survived two world wars, but did not survive the industry’s change to container ships…

The company was founded by Lewis Luckenbach in 1850, who began with a single tugboat in New York Harbor. Luckenbach found success by pioneering tug-and-barge transport of coal from Norfolk, Virginia. Norfolk was the primary port used to ship coal from the fields and mines of Virginia and West Virginia to cities and...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsfallen-flags-luckenbach-steamship-company-was-successful-for-nearly-125-years

FreightWaves Classics: US Steel owned an “in-house” shipping company

The SS Steel Chemist. (Photo: Frank E. Gerhardt/Walter E. Frost Collection)

In 1910, James A. Farrell was an executive at U.S. Steel Corporation, which at that time was the second-largest steel company in the United States. Farrell determined that it would be more cost-effective for U.S. Steel to own its own fleet of freighters to transport steel products rather than chartering cargo space from shipping companies. 

Therefore, U.S. Steel founded the Isthmian Steamship Company for the stated reason to mitigate the costs of shipping U.S. Steel’s freight. The company was...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-us-steel-owned-an-in-house-shipping-company

FreightWaves Classics/Fallen Flags: Lykes Lines was a U.S.-flagged carrier for over a century

The Jean Lykes. (Photo: shipspotting.com)

Lykes Bros. Steamship Co. (also called Lykes Lines), was a U.S.-flagged cargo shipping line that was in business for over 100 years. 

Early history

The seven sons of Dr. Howell T. Lykes founded a shipping business on Florida’s Gulf Coast in 1898. Using a 109-foot three-masted schooner, they shipped cattle to Cuba to help replace herds that were killed during the Spanish-American War. 

Their tradition of naming the company’s ships after family members dates back to that time; their first schooner...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsfallen-flags-lykes-lineswas-a-us-flagged-carrier-for-over-a-century

FreightWaves Classics: Shipping line brought fresh fruit to the Northeast in the late 1800s

Horse-drawn wagons carry bananas from the wharf. (Photo: collectorsweekly.com)

Background

No matter the time of year, you can visit a grocery store or supermarket in almost any community in the United States and find fresh fruit and vegetables from across the country and around the world. In contrast, during the late 1800s, the diets of most U.S. residents did not contain nearly as many fresh fruits and vegetables as we eat today. Also, most fruit and vegetables were consumed relatively near where they were grown. (However, refrigerated railroad freight cars began to be...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-shipping-line-brought-fresh-fruit-to-the-northeast

FreightWaves Classics/Infrastructure: Fenwick Island Lighthouse helped keep the Delmarva Peninsula safe

The Fenwick Island Lighthouse. (Photo: lighthousefriends.com)

As noted in an earlier FreightWaves Classics article, The 1st United States Congress met from March 4, 1789, to March 4, 1791, during the first two years of George Washington’s presidency. On August 7, 1789, that very first session of Congress approved an Act establishing and supporting lighthouses, beacons, buoys and public piers. Those first Members of Congress understood how important navigational aids and infrastructure were to the economy of the new nation. Trade with other nations was...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsinfrastructure-fenwick-island-lighthouse-helped-keep-the-delmarva-peninsula-safe

FreightWaves Classics/Fallen Flags: American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines served the Atlantic and Pacific oceans

The SS Excalibur was renamed the USS Joseph Hewes and provided service in 1941-42. (Photo: ssmaritime.com)

There are many people interested in former transportation companies, whether they were trucking companies, railroads, airlines or ocean lines. These companies are called “fallen flags,” and the term describes companies whose corporate names have been dissolved through merger, bankruptcy or liquidation.

Today’s FreightWaves Classics profiles another fallen flag – American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines. American Export Lines merged with Isbrandtsen Co. in 1964 to form American Export & Isbrandtsen...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsfallen-flags-american-export-isbrandtsen-lines-served-the-atlantic-and-pacific-oceans

James Webb Telescope’s path to deep space goes through Panama Canal

A blue cargo ship prepares to dock at a small river port.

The James Webb Telescope that NASA plans to launch on Christmas day will travel about 1 million miles into orbit, where it will look into deep space in hopes of solving mysteries about the origins of the cosmos. The most expensive, complex space observatory ever built has already taken a 5,800-mile terrestrial trip by truck and vessel, through the Panama Canal, to the launch site on the northeastern coast of South America under some of the most stringent requirements the logistics industry has...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/james-webb-telescopes-path-to-deep-space-goes-through-panama-canal

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